Kingdom Hearts II: The other Side
by Frozen-Raven
Summary: The story of Zane, a mysterious person works for Ansem the Wise in the beginning until Ansem assigns him a mission which will change his whole life... Most characters are from Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts as well not much Disney and my own character
1. Chapter 1

**Kingdom Hearts II: The Other Side**

_While Sora was with Namine she put him in a big shell and he fell into a deep sleep including Goofy and Donald. Now a year has passed..._

**Chapter One: The Awakening!**

Somewhere in a mansion Ansem and Riku were discussing some matters "Riku I want you to bring me Roxas who is with Organization XIII." Ansem asked Riku

"But why?" Riku asked confused

"Because I want Sora the Keyblade hero to awaken." Ansem said impatiently

"As you wish I will bring Roxas here without fail." Riku said while he left through some black smoke

When Riku had left a shadow came out of the darkness.

"Ah, there you are Zane I want you to take care of Riku I know he's strong and all but Roxas is the Keyblade wielder and that power cannot be underestimated." Ansem said worried a bit

"I will watch him closely." The boy said

"Right. Now go!"

Somewhere in another world Riku was searching for Roxas but it was very dark that he couldn't see well...

"Roxas Where are you?" Riku shouted as he looked around

It wasn't long before Roxas came out of hiding "I am here!" He said because he knew why he came

"Will you come quiet with me or should I use force?" Riku asked but he already knew the answer he took out his Keyblade

Roxas scoffed and took his Keyblade in his hands

Riku was the first one that attacked. He ran towards Roxas and slashed at him but he blocked with his weapon and he kicked Riku in the torso.

He fell down but Riku quickly stood up and took his Keyblade again lunged towards Roxas this time hitting him in the arm, Roxas was getting pissed and he slashed his Keyblade so quickly that Riku didn't even see the Keyblade anymore

Suddenly Roxas hit his Keyblade and it flew out of his hands and Roxas kicked him again this time in the face and he fell down, he tried to get his weapon but Roxas saw it first and he stood on his Keyblade.

He pointed his own Keyblade towards Riku's face "Who sent you! If you tell me I might spare your life." Roxas said while still pointing his Keyblade at Riku

However Riku remained silent as he knew it was over for him

"I guess I will just have to finish you off then!" Roxas said and he lifted his Keyblade

As Roxas slashed his Keyblade he didn't slash at Riku instead he hit metal so he looked too see who it was "Not so fast!" Zane said as he pushed Roxas's Keyblade away with his sword

"Huh? Who are you?" Roxas asked surprised as he didn't expect anyone to come

"Who I am is not important, but either way you will come with me." Zane said and went in an attacking stance

Roxas laughed at the thought of him being captured which he knew would never happen.

So Roxas took his Keyblade and tried to hit Zane but he missed and Zane slashed at him but he blocked, Roxas then tried to kick him but Zane was quick enough and took his leg and threw him towards the wall.

Roxas hit the wall hard and fell on his head unconscious...

"I guess that's done, Are you Allright Riku?" Zane asked while he extended his arm for Riku to help him up

Riku took his hand as he helped him up however he was surprised that somebody came "Who are you?"

"I am sent by Ansem, he asked me to help you if it got rough. And it seems like I was just on time even." Zane said while he went to check on Roxas who was still unconscious on the floor

"How do I know you aren't lying?" Riku asked because he didn't trust him

Zane picked up Roxas as he was ready to leave "You can't but either way I'm taking Roxas with me, so if you want to come with me than be my guest."

Riku hesitated for a while but in the end he went along with him.

It wasn't long before Ansem heard them come inside the mansion so he got up and saw that they had Roxas with them "So you made it back it seems"

"Is this boy with you Ansem?" Riku asked

"Ah so he didn't introduce himself did he? Well his name is Zane and I asked him to help you if it was necessary, it won't be good to lose someone as good as you now is it?" Ansem said as he sat down on the chair

Riku was annoyed a bit that Ansem couldn't trust him to do it alone but then again he knew he would have been dead if he didn't send him some help "Well thanks anyway."

"Allright now that everything is said, can you put Roxas in that open place beside me" Ansem said and Zane put Roxas beside him on the ground

"Well I just hope that Sora will wake up after this then, wouldn't want everything we did to be all for nothing." Zane said

"I guess you know everything huh?" Riku said

"Yeah, I am pretty much working with Ansem before you came along."

"Well no time to catch up now, operate those computers and press the button when I tell you both to push." Ansem said as Riku and Zane went to the computer opposite of Ansem and waited for Ansem's signal

"1,2 and 3 now!" Ansem said and they all pushed the button at the same time and a light came over Roxas

A second later he was gone.

"Allright now Sora can wake up at last, all he needed was a heart again." Ansem said softly to himself

"Great... So what did we just do?" Riku asked as he didn't know what just happened

Ansem had to think for a second until he found what to say "We put Roxas in another world with different memory and I hope that he regains Sora's memory and awaken him."

"Sora's memory? How come?" Riku asked but then it hit him as he understood it "I understand already."

"Well anyway, I'll be gone for a while." Zane said and quickly left

"Where are you going?" Riku asked him but Zane didn't reply

In the meantime in Twilight Town...

"Hey Roxas what should we do now that it is our vacation?" Hayner asked while he was eating some ice-cream

"Well we could always go to the beach!" Roxas replied

"That won't work since we don't have enough munny." Olette said

"How come?" Pence asked as he was eating three ice-creams at once

"Do I really need to say it?" Olette asked Pence sarcastically

It wasn't long before Hayner had an idea "Oh...well guess what they are hiring people and they're paying well."

"Well I don't do man's work I am a girl after all, I will just ask my parents for some." Olette said

"Okay okay I get the picture we will do the work." Hayner said

"Speak for yourself will you. I will get it on some other way." Pence said shocked because he never liked to work

"Fine but we will have to get a move on before they won't need us anymore." Roxas said as he and Hayner left to work

It took them two weeks to get 2000 munny and they met up in their hideout

"Well I guess that 2000 is enough now isn't it?" Hayner asked

"Yes it should be enough." Olette said

Pence took the money from them and was ready to leave "Well what are we waiting for then?" Pence said as they all left except for Roxas

Roxas fell down and he had a dream about Sora

Back in the Lab...

"Well it seems like it is working, it's already 40% and soon it will be done." Ansem said while he looked at the monitors

"Guess we will have succeeded after all." Riku said as he looked around to find Zane but he still wasn't back

Zane was outside in the woods and he was talking to some girl in glasses, she had short red hair and she wore a dark brown t-shirt with black jeans and she had two handguns attached to her wrist

"Allright Dalia, tell me if something changes will you? I wouldn't want Michael to end up like my family." Zane said as the girl agreed

"It's enough that he killed my whole family, so I think its best if you make it look like he's dead or anything like that."

"Yeah I will do that; it would be awful if he ended up dead as well. Anyway take care of yourself and don't let it control you. It's dangerous enough to have it in you in the first place." She said and left afterwards

Zane was returning to the mansion when suddenly someone came out of the shadows and he had a black robe on "Who are you?" Zane asked as he took out his sword and was about to fight when he suddenly got hit from the back on his head and he fell unconscious

Dalia had heard something so she went to where Zane was and she saw a robed man holding a knife in his hand and was about to strike Zane who was unconscious on the floor.

The robed man looked at Dalia with his golden glowing eyes and then disappeared as a second later he reappeared behind her

Dalia turned around and took both her handguns out and was about to fire when the robed man disappeared again and she looked around to see where he went but she didn't see him anymore.

So she went to Zane who was lying unconscious on the floor and she tried to wake him "Come on Zane wake up!" She shook him and a second later he was about to wake up when suddenly the man came back.

This time he took Dalia and disappeared after that in some black smoke. Zane could only see the black smoke for a second while he tried to concentrate and stood up

He looked around confused because he didn't know why he was in the woods

Back in Twilight Town Roxas woke up with a bit of a headache...

"Damn these weird dreams, what's with this Sora boy?" Roxas said while Pence came back for him

"Hey Roxas, what's taking you so long eh? Come on!" Pence said

"Oh, I'm sorry didn't mean to keep you all."

"No problem, but can you keep the munny with you? I am afraid I may lose it." Pence said because he usually lost things

Roxas agreed as he took the munny and he put it in his pocket

When they were with the train station Roxas tripped over a rock and fell but a man in black robes picked him up and said something in his ear and left.

Roxas shocked at what the man said, so he looked around to find him but he was already gone "Did you see that guy?" He asked his friends

"What guy? Are you chickening out or something, come on before the train leaves." Hayner said as he ran to the cashier

When they were with the cashier...

"Hey Roxas give them the munny will ya?" Hayner said impatiently

Roxas checked his pocket to get the munny but he couldn't find it so he began panicking as he checked his other pockets but the munny was gone "Damn it, that man must have stolen it from me."

"What man?" Hayner was surprised that Roxas lost the munny but he didn't want to argue "Oh well whatever… Seems like there will be no beach!"

Meanwhile in the mysterious lab...

Zane came back from outside but he was still pretty confused

"Zane, you came back. I want you to go to the king's teacher Yen Sid." Ansem asked

"Yeah fine…" Zane was rubbing his head as it hurted but he didn't know why "So anyway, why his teacher?" Zane asked still confused

"Because he knows a lot about the heartless and the nobodies."

Zane had to think for a second to focus on what Ansem just said "Oh, okay I'll do it."

Ansem noticed that something was off with Zane but he quickly dismissed his thoughts "Great that would help a lot with my research."

Riku however felt left out because he also wanted to do something since he hates doing nothing "What am I supposed to do?"

Ansem had to think for a second since he forgot about Riku until he had an idea "You'll go with Zane to Yen Sid and after that you will have to search for Kairi."

"Kairi? Is there really a way to get to her?" Riku asked

"I am not sure but the organization can get to her any minute and I think that Yen Sid can help you as well."

"Allright, I guess we are going then." Riku said as Zane already left but before Riku could leave Ansem gave him a small machine which looked like a tiny satellite except that it had a small keyboard attached to it "What's this for?"

"It's to send me the info so that you won't have to come back here. Now go."

Back in Twilight town Roxas was getting fed up with the dreams that he kept on having "Man must I keep getting dreams of this boy called Sora."

"Did you say something Roxas?" Hayner asked as he thought that he heard Roxas say something softly

"Huh? No I didn't."

"Okay then I am going to enter the struggle tournament, are you going to enter too Roxas?" Hayner asked and Roxas immediately agreed

"Promise?" Hayner asked as they both Clasped their hands "Promise!" Roxas replied

At the struggle tournament...

"Hey Roxas if we fight against each other don't go easy on me will ya?" Hayner asked

"Don't worry about it." Roxas said while he went up the stage

In the struggle tournament, Roxas won to each one of them but after it was just finished everything suddenly froze...

Roxas looked around to see what was happening but he didn't understand "Huh? What's happening?"

Then suddenly a black smoke appeared and a person with red hair came out of it but he kept his hands behind his back

"Roxas come back to us." The redhead asked

"Who are you and what do you want?" Roxas asked confused

"Don't you remember me Roxas? I am Axel your friend." He said

"My friend won't hide a weapon behind his back that's what I know."

"Oh you mean these?" Axel said while he took his hands in front of him and showed two circled axes

Roxas took a step back as he got afraid "What do you want?" Roxas asked again

Axel was getting bored from the same question but humored him anyway "I told you already come back to us."

"And if I won't, then what?"

"Well I can't say that I tried buddy, but it seems like talking won't help so I will take you by force!" Axel said while he took an attacking stance

However before Axel could attack a man in bandages suddenly appeared...

Ansem was surprised to see that the Nobodies could come here but he wouldn't let Axel take him "Roxas don't listen to him he speaks nonsense." Ansem said

Axel was pretty pissed that Ansem came "I knew you would come. If only this was easier."

Then suddenly a weapon that looked like a key appeared in Roxas's hands...

Roxas shocked when the weapon appeared in his hand "Huh? What is this weapon?"

"Oh no he already has the Keyblade! I must take him now before it is too late and he remembers everything." Axel said as he was about to attack Roxas but he couldn't move

"Roxas listen to me." Ansem said while Axel tried to let Roxas listen to him but he listened to neither because he held his hands over his ears

It wasn't long after that Roxas began losing his mind and he shouted his friends names and surprisingly everything became normal again...

"And Roxas is the winner!" The Struggle Leader shouted as he held Roxas' hand in the air

The crowd all cheered for Roxas

After the tournament was over Roxas went home and tried to sleep but he dreamed again about Sora and the Keyblade.

The next day Roxas went to his friend's usual spot but there was something strange...

"Hey guys." Roxas said but they ignored him

"So I had an idea. How about we go to the beach?" Hayner asked them and they quickly agreed and while they ran out the hideout they ran straight through Roxas

"Huh? Guys?" Roxas shocked at what just happened so he looked around and saw that something was wrong

When Roxas came near a barrel he saw a picture of Hayner, Olette and Pence near the old mansion but not himself.

"Huh? I was supposed to be in this picture." Roxas said to himself

When Roxas left the place the streets were very quiet…

"What is happening?" Roxas thought until he saw Axel in front of him

"Finally came out did you? I actually thought you were gonna stay there all day, now come we don't like to waste much time!" Axel said as he wanted to take Roxas's arm but Roxas pulled his arm back

"I won't go back to the organization Axel." Roxas said because he remembered everything

Axel shocked that Roxas remembered everything that he didn't even notice that Roxas had run away

Roxas kept running in any direction and finally found himself near an old mansion…

Roxas remembered that he saw someone before with the window of the mansion so he went inside to see if someone could help him

"Hello! Anybody home?" Roxas shouted but no one answered "I guess not."

Roxas kept moving in and out of doors until he finally came to a sort of lab...

Roxas looked around as he was wondering what type of place it was until Axel came again

"Geez, you run fast I almost lost you." Axel said

"I guess there's no helping it than." Roxas said and a Keyblade appeared in both his hands

Axel was shocked to see two Keyblades "What! Two Keyblades?"

Roxas struck very swiftly and hit his arm and soon afterwards Axel fell...

"Please Roxas just come back." Axel pleaded but Roxas wouldn't let him "I'll never go back Axel. I don't belong there anymore after what I found out."

Roxas was about to strike Axel again but he disappeared in a black cloud.

"Afraid huh?" Roxas said while his Keyblades disappeared

Roxas left through the next door and he came to a room completely white with a big shell in the middle.

"I guess this is the place where he ended." Roxas said

"That is correct Roxas, and now it is time for you to awaken him." A girl said behind him so he turned around to see her, she had blonde hair and she wore a white dress

"Who are you?" Roxas asked

"My name is Namine and I am the one that put Sora in this shell to regain his memories but now that he is in it for a long time he needs you to awaken him." She said

"Why me? I am just an ordinary Nobody." Roxas said

"Well because you aren't just an ordinary Nobody, You are of the same blood as Sora… The only thing is Sora can't awaken unless you give your heart to him."

"But what will happen to me then? Will I be gone or what?" Roxas asked

"No, you will live inside Sora and you will become a part of his life, and I promise you we will meet again but I have to leave now. But it will be best if you just give yourself to him. You will also be freed from this place then…" Namine said with a bit of fear in her voice

Roxas tried to stop her from leaving but she already disappeared

"Damn, I guess the only way out is to give in eh… I don't understand it all but I guess I will just have to take the risk." Roxas said and pushed a button near the shell and he slowly disappeared

Somewhere near a tower...

"Are you sure this is the place?" Riku asked because he couldn't see the tower anywhere

"The map says that it should be right in front of us." Zane said as he looked on the map again but then he heard some voices "Quiet, I hear someone."

"Come on Pete can't you open a stupid door like this?" A Woman said angrily

"I think that it is closed by magic." Pete said

"Magic? Ha! I will just have to prepare a spell and then we will come back, let's go!" The woman said as the voices were getting further away now

"Did you hear that? I think that sounded like Maleficent's voice." Riku said because he recognized her voice all too well

"Doesn't matter either way, we are going to meet this Yen Sid and then we'll be off." Zane said while he went to the door of the tower

When they tried to open the door it somehow opened easily...

"Huh? I thought it was difficult to open this door." Riku said confused and looked at Zane for some clue

"Who cares? It opened and that's good enough for me." Zane said as they went inside

It didn't take them too long to reach the top of the tower and they entered Yen Sid's room which had one desk in the middle and lots of bookcases near the walls

"Well we are at the top but where is the king's teacher? It's completely empty except for some dusty books." Riku said while he checked the books which were full of dust

"Did I just hear someone say the king's teacher?" An old man said which appeared out of nowhere in front of them

"Damn, must you shock me?" Riku said angrily

"Oh I am sorry if I startled you but were you looking for me?" The old man asked while he sat down on his chair

"You are the king's teacher then?" Riku asked as he sat down on one of the chairs

"Yes I am did you want me for something?" He asked

"Actually we were sent here by Ansem to find out about the Heartless and Nobodies." Zane said while he was checking out the books in one of the bookcases

"Ansem? Why didn't he come by himself?" Yen Sid asked surprised

"No idea, he told us to come, so we did." Zane said while he was reading a specific book called "Possession" because for some reason he was interested in it but he didn't know why

"Oh Allright I guess I could tell you what I know about the Heartless and the Nobodies." Yen Sid said as he took a big book and began searching through it

"After that we have another question so don't directly disappear will you?" Riku said

"Okay first of all, the heartless appears only if a person dies or in special cases it corrupts the human and he himself will turn into a Heartless."

"And the Nobody?" Riku asked

"Same way, there is a heartless and a Nobody created when a person loses his heart."

"So you mean they have a heart?"

"No they don't have hearts they don't feel or know anything about feelings."

"But Sora's nobody had something like feelings in him." Zane said as he put the book back in its place because it didn't have anything interesting written it

"A Nobody is a bit different than a heartless; a nobody can remember feelings and have memory of the real person."

"Great now that we know this I want to go to the next question. Can we get to any world we wish?" Riku asked and stood up

"It will be possible with certain magic but it might take a while to understand it."

"Okay can you give me the power?" Riku asked eagerly

Yen Sid checked Riku out for a while until he shook his head "I can't give you, you already use the power of Darkness."

Riku was pissed for a second but then Yen Sid checked out Zane

He detected some form of darkness within him but he couldn't find the source and it was too small to be a problem "Hmm, I guess I could give it to Zane."

"What? No I am not taking any special things in me." Zane said as he was afraid for some reason which he didn't know

"Ah come on Zane! Just take the damn power and help me out will you, what are you afraid of anyway?" Riku asked angrily because he didn't want to come all that way for nothing

"I… Ugh fine give it old man!" Zane said

"Hold on."

Yen Sid lifted his arms and began chanting and soon thereafter a bright Light emitted from his hands and went inside Zane

After the Light disappeared in Zane he began to see some quick images flash before his eyes

He looked afraid as he saw a heartless with bright red eyes staring him right in the face "Hehehe, I knew you would agree."

Zane felt like he couldn't move as if he was paralyzed on the floor and the only thing he could move was his arm a bit as he held it out in front of him

He looked at the moon which was shining brightly and then let out a sigh "I can't believe I had to go this far just for him."

The heartless laughed eerily while he disappeared a second later and Zane came out of his vision as he heard Riku call him

"What's wrong man? You look like you were about to die or something." Riku said to him while he concentrated on his surrounding and saw he was back to where he used to be "That was weird…" Zane said softly to himself as he didn't understand what just happened

Yen Sid looked suspiciously at Zane because he never saw this happen before to anyone "Do not misuse this power young man." He said as he feared he might have made a big mistake while Zane just nodded

"Okay! Now we are unstoppable the power of light and dark." Riku said

"So how do I use this power to get to another world?" Zane asked

"All you have to do is to think about the place and say door of light."

"Do I really have to say "Door of light" Can't I just think it?" Zane asked as Yen Sid shook his head

"Fine then, door of light it will be." Zane said and took a small book from the shelf and then left in a rush

"Before you go, tell the king to bring Sora here because I have something for him."

"Okay we will tell him, see ya." Riku said

Before he left, he gave the information to Ansem with the device he gave him

Back in the lab Sora, Donald and Goofy woke up…

"Where are we?" Sora asked because he didn't know were he was

"I don't know but I don't like this place, I think we better get out of here." Goofy said as he felt the place was scary

"Right. Let's go!" Sora said while they left the mansion leaving Donald behind

"Wait!" Donald shouted as he ran to catch up with them "Must you always be so hasty?"

Outside the mansion...

"Well we are outside now what do we do?" Sora asked

"I don't know…" Goofy said

Donald came running out of the mansion trying to catch up with them because he was usually the slowest but he never liked that "I told you to wait!"

"Sorry Donald." Sora said feeling a little embarrassed

"Umm Sora? Don't you think that your clothes are a bit too small now?" Goofy asked as he saw that Sora's pants were more like shorts now

"Huh? Oh hehe seems like we slept pretty long."

"Well anyway we should find the town if there is one, wouldn't want to be stuck here forever." Donald said as he was the first one to leave

After they walked through the woods for a while they found a big hole in a wall and once they got through they got to a town.

"Well I guess there is a town atleast." Sora said while they were walking through an alley

"Hey do you hear that, I bet there is someone inside who knows something." Goofy said as he heard people talking in one of the buildings

"I don't hear anything." Donald said not hearing anything

As they went inside they saw Hayner, Pence and Olette

"Um excuse me."

"Yes did you want something?" Hayner asked angrily

Olette kicked Hayner's leg as she never liked it when he was rude "Ahem don't mind him he is a bit tense."

"Oh okay can I ask a question?" Sora asked because he really wanted to move on

"Before that we should introduce ourselves I am Pence and she is Olette and he is Hayner." Pence said since he always liked to know new people

"I am Sora and the tall one is Goofy and the small one is Donald."

"So anyway I wanted to know if you know someone called Kairi she has short red hair and well she is beautiful or Riku he has white hair and usually looks like a cool guy, they are my friends." Sora asked

"Well there are a lot of girls who are beautiful and have short red hair here, in fact I saw one who looked like she was searching for someone but her name wasn't Kairi. But we have seen this Riku before." Hayner said

"Really where?" Sora asked excited

"Well he was a lot in this old mansion but sometimes he would come to town for supplies and he was with some creepy guy called Zane. Pence once saw him out in the woods making deals in the middle of the night." Olette said as she was usually afraid from him when he came

"Zane?" Sora didn't know anyone by that name so he turned to look at Donald and Goofy but they also didn't know "What were they wearing?"

"Well this guy called Riku had blue jeans and a white t-shirt and a yellow jacket." Pence said

"What about this other guy?" Donald asked

"Zane well he had mainly dark clothes on. Dark grey jeans and a grey T-shirt and a sleeveless dark blue jacket however the weirdest thing was that one time I saw him in the woods it was pretty dark and I was following him until he suddenly turned around, I could hardly move when he looked at me with red glowing eyes but then the next second he disappeared." Pence said still shaking from that time

"Don't believe everything that he says, Pence imagines a whole lot." Olette said while she tried to calm Pence down but instead it worried Sora and the other two that he could have been a Heartless

"Well we haven't seen them for a week now, I heard that they boarded the ghost train." Hayner said since he quite enjoyed seeing them afraid

"Ulp a… a ghost train?" Goofy asked shaking now

"Yeah and they say that no one is actually driving it but hey how can it move then right?"

"What! Why would they go on a ghost train?" Sora asked surprised

"Well I suspected them so I sneaked on them and found out something. They went on the train because that was the only one that would go to some tower and I remember now that they also talked about Kairi but I couldn't hear what they said… Sorry." Olette said

"Kairi? Well anyway do you know how to get there?" Sora asked

"Just go all the way to the north and you will find the station in front of you." Pence said now as he stopped shaking

"Thanks let's go guys." Sora said and was about to leave but Hayner stopped him

"Just one minute! There is a small man with big ears waiting in the station for you."

"Small with big ears?" Sora said wondering while Donald and Goofy knew directly who it was "The King!" they shouted happily

Well anyway, you'd better hurry because he is waiting there already for an hour now I believe." Pence said as they rushed out of their place

So they went to the station and found a small man with big ears dressed in black.

Sora didn't think it was the king since he never dressed in black before "I am not so sure that it is the king." Sora said

However as the small man turned they saw that it was the king "Sora! Donald! Goofy!" He shouted

"Your majesty!" Donald and goofy both shouted and hugged him

"How are you guys doing?" He asked because he didn't see them for some time

"Well we are just fine, we just don't know exactly how long we were gone." Sora said as he was actually wondering how long ago it was

"About a year but anyway take this pouch and get on the train as soon as possible, I have to go somewhere first but don't wait up I will meet you all again later." The king said

"Before you go did you see Riku?" Sora asked him but the king was pretty silent as he was thinking what to say

"I am sorry Sora but I couldn't stop them it had to be done." The king said

"What do you mean you couldn't stop them? Is this guy Zane a Heartless and they fought or what?" Sora asked since he was worried about Riku

The king had to think for a second because he knew that he already said too much but then the train sounded the horn and he was saved from the question "The train is waiting hurry up!" He said and then ran off

"What did he mean with I couldn't stop them?" Sora wondered as Donald Goofy ran for the train

"Let's go Sora before the train leaves without us." Donald said while Sora now caught up with them and they got to the ticket man

As they got to the ticket man Hayner and the gang came running.

"Phew you guys sure walk fast." Hayner said panting

Sora was surprised to see them there yet for some reason he felt glad "What's up?"

"Well we just thought that we should see you off." Olette said as she knew it sounded weird when she said it

"Oh thanks." Sora said and returned his attention to the ticket man

"Three tickets please." Sora said while he gave him the pouch that the king gave him

"Huh? How come you have that pouch? I made that pouch myself." Olette said as she showed them her pouch

"Uhuh they are the same." Goofy said

"Uh I don't know." Sora was confused but then the aboard sound rang so they had to go

"Well I have to go." Sora said while he ran to the train

"Bye, come visit us again some time." Hayner said as they boarded the train

"I sure will." Sora said and the train doors closed but for some reason a tear ran from his eye

"What's wrong?" Donald asked as he saw his tear

"Nothing, I don't know where that came from." Sora said while he wiped away the tear

"Don't worry we will be back soon." Goofy said as he knew they would be

So Sora, Donald and Goofy boarded the train and it took them about a half hour until they came to an open area with a huge tower.

"What is this place?" Sora asked as he wondered where they were

"I don't know." Donald said while he checked out the surroundings

"Hmmm who is that standing with the door?" Goofy asked

"Hey you do you know where we are?" Sora asked the man that was at the door

"What! Who are you?" The man asked but still didn't turn around

"I am Sora, he is Donald and he's Goofy." Sora said while he introduced his friends

"What Donald & Goofy are here!" The man nearly shouted as he turned around and Donald and Goofy shocked

"Pete? How come you are here?" Donald asked angrily

"You were banished by the king, you were supposed to be locked in that strange world." Goofy said

"Well Maleficent saved me and you must be the one that tried to kill her." Pete said

"Tried! hahaha we already did." Sora said as he felt confident about kicking him as well

"What! That's impossible I saw her just ... whatever I will leave now before it turns ugly, feh." Pete said while he quickly ran away

"Huh? What was that all about?"

"I have no clue!" Donald said since he never understood Pete well

"Well adventure rule number … something, said always explores new places no matter how dangerous it may be." Goofy said as he went to open the door

When they went inside they saw some long stairs but they went up anyway and when they came to the top floor they saw an old long man.

"Master Yen Sid!" Donald and Goofy shouted and bowed

"I see that you have made it far. But I must say I was expecting you sooner." Yen Sid said since he never liked waiting

"Heya!" Sora said as Donald looked angrily at him

"Sora! Show some respect!" Donald said angrily

"It's no problem Donald, anyway the reason why I wanted you to come here is because there is trouble again in the worlds."

"How come? We defeated Ansem and rid the worlds of the heartless." Sora said as he didn't understand

"Yes I know but as long as there is darkness in one's heart it won't go away."

"So you mean to say that I did all this for nothing?" Sora asked now because he didn't like it if it was for nothing

"No not for nothing, a great deal of heartless have gone away but the worlds will never be without heartless, you can say that the created heartless made by Ansem is gone but the heartless from the darkness of people's hearts will stay. But that is not why I wanted you to come."

"So what do you want me to do?" Sora asked since he was always up for a new challenge

"There is a new enemy. Ahem, well not exactly new but they came out of hiding. They are the Nobodies, they are stronger and they can think and know how to feel they pretend that they have hearts BUT DO NOT BE DECEIVED they merely try to fool you. Some of them have human form and they made an organization called Organization XIII they are the strongest and they are trying to devour the worlds in darkness. This is why I need you to take them down."

"So I have to beat Organization XIII and then it's over, easier said than done."

"Ulp they sound scary!" Goofy said since he usually gets afraid easily

"Which is why you must first get your new equipment and I think you need some new clothes right Sora?" Yen Sid said as he saw how small his clothes were

"Hehe yeah it seems like I grew a bit." Sora said while he looked at his clothes

"Okay go through that door in front of you, three fairies are waiting for you. They will do the necessary things." Yen Sid said pointing to a door to his left

Sora went through the door as Donald and Goofy wanted to follow him but Yen Sid stopped them "Wait here for your equipment."

"Yes master

Sora went through the door and he saw 3 fairies waiting impatiently for him.

"Was about time you came!" The red fairy said unhappy

"Sorry." Sora said

"No no no no! No time for apologies we must make your clothes. We can't wait forever now." The blue fairy said

"Okay here goes!" The red fairy said as she tingled her wand and Sora had red clothes on

"Hmm how about this!" The blue fairy did the same and Sora had blue clothes on now

"No this!" The green fairy now also did the same and now he had green clothes

They continued like that for a while until Sora felt enough "Can you decide already! He shouted

The fairies shocked and they finally agreed to do it together "Here goes." They tingled their wands again together and Sora now had black clothes on

"Yes that's it, but I must tell you that it has some special powers in which you can transform and get 2 Keyblades instead of just one. But you will need this stone to do that." The red fairy said as she gave him a weird blue glowing stone which was shaped like a triangle

"Anyway that's it for now, we can't let Yen Sid waiting forever." The green fairy said

Sora came back to Donald & Goofy they had new equipment with them.

"Look Sora I have a spell book from master Yen Sid I can learn better magic." Donald said excited

"And he gave me a sword, I am now a full white… whatever that means." Goofy said

"It's KNIGHT!" Donald nearly shouted since Goofy was usually bad in words

"Right Knight!" He repeated

"Okay for the final gift I give you ..." Before he could continue Donald cut in "The Gummi ship!"

"Ahem! Unfortunately yes I couldn't find my Falcon ship so I will give you this ahem! Ship." Yen Sid said feeling a bit embarrassed

"Thanks master Yen Sid but I have a question, King Mickey said that he couldn't stop Riku from doing something but I wonder what." Sora asked as he was still wondering

"I am sorry Sora but I can't tell you, you will have to ask him yourself."

"C'mon Sora we have to go!" Donald said while he jumped in the Gummi ship

"It's been a long time since we went in our Gummi ship right?" Goofy said as he liked this ship a lot

"Yeah." Sora said and they flew away


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Hollow Bastion's citizens

Somewhere in a distant dark world...

"Where are we? I thought this power was supposed to work?" Zane said since he saw that it clearly wasn't an island but instead there was only darkness

"I really don't know. I'm guessing we can't go there for some reason." Riku said because it was the only thing that made sense to him

"I knew I couldn't trust that old man!" Zane said angrily

Suddenly a man with silver long hair and a long sword came out of the shadows...

"Did they really think that if they send me two BOYS I would be defeated? Do they like to send children to their doom? It doesn't matter I love cutting anyway." The mysterious man said as he came closer

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked him

"Well I don't like to explain myself, so how about a little fun to pass the time." He said and he got into a fighting stance

"I guess we have no choice we must fight!" Zane said while they took their weapons

They teamed up against this man and they tried to hit him but he blocked all of their attacks with amazing speed...

"He's way too fast!" Riku said as he tried to hit him now with his power of darkness but he easily blocked that as well

They fought for only two minutes until they figured out that the enemy was getting stronger and they were getting weaker "There is something here that saps my strength I can't go on fighting like this." Zane said while he still tried to hit him but missed and instead out of nowhere the man slashed him in his chest

Riku soon felt weaker but not as much as Zane since Zane could hardly hold his weapon now and much less defend himself

"This is pathetic, he is that weak. I could hardly enjoy this; I guess I will meet you both another time in another place where it might be fun… If you live that is." The man said and disappeared in the dark

"Damn it we have to get out of here, come on." Riku said while he helped Zane stand up since he was feeling very weak

They walked for about an hour in the dark they both finally collapsed

After some time a man found them and brought them to a cabin where he treated them until they woke up...

"Agh! That hurts." Riku said while a little girl was patching up a wound on his arm

"Tifa! Cloud! He woke up!" The girl shouted as a man with blonde spiky hair in black clothes came and a brunette woman who also wore black followed him

"Hey are you okay?" The brunette asked

"Yeah I am fine but who are you?" Riku asked because he didn't know them

"Sorry my name's Tifa this is Cloud we were lost until we found this cabin." The brunette said

"Marlene, go to the living room we need to speak to these boys." Cloud said while the girl went out the room

"What happened to Zane?" Riku asked as he saw that Zane was still unconscious

"He isn't in the best condition but he'll live." Tifa said

"There was a man that tried to kill us as soon as we came for some reason." Riku said

"Did he have long silver hair and had a really long sword?" Cloud asked because he most likely knew who it was

"Yeah, do you know him?"

"Yeah, the only problem is that I killed him twice, yet on some way he keeps coming back to life." Cloud said angrily

Zane turned around in his sleep however that was a wrong thing to do as he immediately got pain so he woke "Ah what the hell!"

"You were wounded in your chest, Tifa bandaged it so you'll be okay." Cloud said as Riku looked at Zane since he didn't even know that he was wounded in the fight

"You're lucky that the wound wasn't so very deep otherwise you would have been dead." Tifa said

"Thanks but we must be going." Zane said and stood up weakly as he could see his chest full with bandages but he ignored it and he took his shirt from the nearby chair and put it on slowly

"Hey man you are in a very bad shape, how do you expect to get anywhere in your state?" Riku asked him worried but Zane ignored him and just took his jacket

"I have been through worse with Ansem, and it's a bad idea to stay here in the middle of nowhere where anything could happen." Zane said while he walked past Cloud and Tifa into the living room where he saw a small brunette girl cleaning the furniture

"Are you going already?" She asked him sweetly

"I don't know who you are as well but we have to go."

"I am Marlene I helped find you while Cloud took you here and Tifa fixed you up."

"How do you expect to find an exit in this place the whole place is pitch dark." Cloud asked but Zane again ignored him and went outside as everyone followed him

Once they came outside they saw two men in black whom also had silver hair waiting outside with some monsters

"Friends of yours?" Zane asked annoyed

"Long time no see CLOUD!" Loz said as he was still angry at him

"It seems like the dead keep on coming back to life lately, especially those who are pretty annoying."

"Well I am not alive; do you even know where you are?" Loz asked him but Cloud couldn't answer

"No? We are in a place which is similar to hell, you see we failed to kill you and this is how mother repays us but now that you are here we can change all that and perhaps mother will let us come to her."

"If you can't kill me when I was alone how do you expect to kill me when I'm with a group?"

"You underestimate us Cloud, we are no longer the weak people you fought before. For you see this place has changed us, now let's have a rematch shall we." Loz said while he took his gun

"Play with us again." Yazoo said and he prepared his electric weapon and they both took an attacking position as Loz ordered the monsters to attack

Cloud quickly lunged forward while he slashed the monsters quickly as he headed for Yazoo

Tifa was fighting the monsters when Loz began shooting so she then also had to evade the bullets

"Guess we have to focus on the humans…" Zane said while he unsheathed his sword and rushed towards the monsters while Riku did the same "Take this!" Zane shouted as he slashed the head off one of the monsters but when he tried to slash the other monster that came for him his sword broke just as it killed the monster "Now this sucks, I should have bought a stronger sword." Zane threw away the sword and took his pistol from his holster "Sometimes guns come in handy." Zane began shooting at the monsters

"You're getting better, mother would have been happy if you were on our side." Yazoo said as he dodged Cloud's attacks and then landed a hit to his chest when Cloud got distracted by one of the monsters

"Damn it." Cloud cursed while he brushed away some blood from his lips and he rushed back to Yazoo

Tifa tried to get nearer to Loz but he kept on shooting and the monsters kept on distracting her when suddenly Loz got a phone call

"I'm kind of busy now… What? He wasn't supposed to be there... Fine fine, I am on my way." Loz said as he hung up and signaled to Yazoo to come to him

"What is it?" Yazoo asked nervous since he knew it was never good when they get interrupted during a battle

"Some kid called Dalia is making problems and she has someone called G helping her against us, we have to get rid of them both." Loz said

"What about Cloud then?" Yazoo asked as Loz looked at Cloud who was battling his way towards them

"I guess we will have to let him go… For now." Loz said and some more monsters appeared while they ran away

Cloud tried to catch up with Yazoo but it was too late as they both vanished leaving them only with the black monsters

However it didn't take them long to kill the monsters and amidst the battle they already noticed that Yazoo and Loz disappeared

"These chickens always run… What are we going to do now?" Cloud asked because he knew they were stuck in that place

"I guess we should find a way to get out of here." Tifa said

"Well not that I have mastered the ability or something… But I think I can get us to a world called Hollow Bastion." Zane said

Cloud and Tifa both looked surprised at Zane "How will you do that?" Cloud asked confused

"Well if I am correct now, I can only teleport to places where I've been so hopefully it will work this time and we won't get to a complete different place." Zane said

Cloud thought for a while until he finally agreed "Oh what the heck. It's better than staying here the whole time." Cloud said

"Allright." Zane closed his eyes and thought of Hollow Bastion and a second late a light appeared

Marlene looked at the light with amazement "Shall I go?" She asked Tifa

"Yes you can go." Tifa said as Marlene went in the light with Tifa

And soon thereafter the rest followed through the light and when they came out they all fell in a room with alot of books...

"Hey what are you doing coming in from nowhere?" A man with a very long grey beard asked

"It's me Merlin." Riku said as Merlin remembered him from his previous trips

"Riku what are you doing storming in my house? Haven't you heard of a door? And who are these people with you anyways?" Merlin asked

"Oh this is Zane my friend and Tifa, Cloud and the little one is Marlene." Riku said and he pointed to each one of them as they all stood up

Suddenly a man with black clothes and a sword like a gun came inside...

"What's happening here?" the man asked as he looked ready to fight the unexpected

"Oh Leon, Riku and some others came suddenly in my house."

"I see, so how's Sora?" Leon asked

"He isn't with us right now so I don't really know but I am truly sorry we have to go." Riku said and wanted to get out of the house but Leon stopped him

"What's the rush?" He asked

"We need to find a way to get to Kairi and I don't want to linger around here for nothing."

"Hold on, I think I can help you with that but you will have to help me in return."

"Fine, what is it that you want from us?" Riku asked annoyed

"We have two problems the dam isn't working which needs some fixing so we can't have water and the other is not for the water but something else."

"Which is…?" Cloud asked

"Well there have been rumors saying that a man called Sephiroth has been burning down some villages around here and we would like to have some help."

"He is here already!" Tifa asked shocked that he could move also so fast between worlds

"Seems you know who he is; care to share what you know?" Leon asked since he really wanted to know about this mysterious person as he was causing everyone a lot of pain

"He isn't human he was created in a lab by a man named Hojo and he gained some unnatural powers." Cloud said as he remembered the time when he destroyed his hometown and Aerith

Then a ninja girl in black appeared out of nowhere...

"Cloud! You are here!" The girl asked nearly screaming from surprise

"Yuffie? What are you doing here?" Tifa asked as she didn't think that she would ever see her again

"Well our world got destroyed by heartless right after I came to Wutai, So I suddenly found myself in Traverse town at first until Sora helped us come to this world, so we made this place our new home, by the way what happened to you?" Yuffie asked since she overheard them a bit

"I don't know, about a month after I defeated Sephiroth again I was with Tifa in the bar and suddenly these things attacked and then we suddenly found ourselves in some strange land where we found this 2 boys unconscious and they say that they fought Sephiroth and later on Loz came to us and said that we were in some kind of hell! So Zane helped us escape with his power." Cloud said

"That's one interesting story, so you probably know Cid as well?" Leon asked expecting that they were all friends since Yuffie usually never shuts up about the people she was with

"Ofcourse! Cid the Airship Engineer there is no better engineer or pilot than him." Tifa said as she was happy that he was here as well

"Great! So that means that you have a little reunion, except for me I don't find anyone from my world." Leon murmured

"Well you don't have to worry Zane and I will look for anyone from your world after we find Kairi right Zane?" Riku said when he saw Zane suddenly fall down unconscious

"Zane! Hey wake up." Riku shook his body but there was no response

Marlene was getting afraid when she saw Zane "What's happening?"

Cloud checked Zane out and after he lifted his jacket he saw that he was bleeding from his chest badly "It seems like his wound had reopened in the last battle, we have to change his bandage and clean the wound but before that help me get him to the bed." Cloud said and he took his upper body while Riku took his legs and put him on the bed and then Tifa came and took off his bandage

Suddenly a man in a blue T-shirt and dark green trousers and a spear in his hand stormed inside...

"Leon! Yuffie! We got trouble big time!" The man nearly shouted

"Hey the next time you come be more careful with the door otherwise you'll break it." Merlin said unhappy about the way the man acted

"Yeah yeah! Maybe next time! Huh?" The man shocked however when he saw both Cloud and Tifa "Cloud, Tifa!"

"Cid! It's been a long time!" Cloud said

"How the hell did you get here?" Cid asked as he was kind of happy that Cloud and Tifa survived

"Cid what's the BIG trouble?" Leon asked as he felt ill at ease

"Oh yeah I almost forgot there are about a few thousand of Heartless coming to the city, with some other white things." Cid said since he was confused at what the white things were

"It's the nobodies, we must hurry." Riku said

"What about your friend?" Yuffie asked when she saw Zane still weakened lying unconscious on the bed

"Well Merlin can look after him." Riku said as he never liked babysitting

"Okay let's go! Marlene you stay here okay?" Cloud said while he put Marlene on a couch

"Okay." Marlene said

"Let's go Cloud!" Leon said while he, Cloud and Cid left and soon thereafter Tifa, Riku and Yuffie followed them

Once they got to the city border there were a lot of Heartless coming towards them

"This doesn't look all that good!" Leon said when he saw the army of Heartless coming towards them

"Well I sure don't like to die so we need some good tactics." Cloud said

"Okay! Yuffie, Cid go on top and attack from above." Leon said while he began ordering around

"Yeah I will bring them to their death with this spear of mine." Cid said as he smoked a cigarette

"Well it sure is easy to attack from above as long as they don't fly." Yuffie said since she never liked Flying Heartless

"Okay Tifa and Riku attack from the left and I will attack from the right with Cloud."

"What about the middle?" Cloud asked as the middle would be left open but then Zane suddenly showed up but he still looked weakened

"I will be in the middle!" Zane said while he tried to keep himself steady

"What are you doing Zane? You are wounded!" Riku said because he could see that Zane had difficulty standing still

"You should be surprised as to how much my body can handle."

"Okay it seems like we will all have to live with our choices because here they come!" Leon said when the Heartless had finally gotten to the gate

They all took out their weapons and started to fight. Leon and Cloud teamed up and slashed about twenty heartless within one slash

Riku was killing the heartless quickly he slashed one in the torso and then quickly slashed the next one in the head while Yuffie was killing the Heartless that came from his back. Tifa was punching all the enemies with her fists but suddenly a heartless came from behind her but luckily Cid saw it and he jumped on it with his spear

Zane got surrounded so he shot all around him and they were gone but they kept on coming and quick enough the flying heartless appeared...

Zane was the first to see the flying heartless "They are coming inside flying!" He shouted when Yuffie saw them also now

"Okay I will take care of those!" Yuffie said as she threw her shuriken towards the flying heartless

"They aren't stopping we must do something!" Tifa said since she was getting outnumbered and soon thereafter a heartless hit her with a sword in the back

"Tifa!" Cloud shouted while he rushed towards Tifa and killed all the Heartless in his way

As Cloud got to Tifa he saw that the wound wasn't very bad and would get better with quick treatment if he got fast enough back to Merlin...

"I am sorry but I need to get Tifa to Merlin!" Cloud said and took Tifa in his arms

"Okay just hurry!" Leon said as he held back the heartless but he knew that he wouldn't be able to hold back for long since the Heartless just kept on coming

Once Cloud left with Tifa, Riku went back to help Zane since his side was clear of heartless at that moment

"Are you okay Zane?" Riku asked since he could still see that Zane was a bit shaky

"Don't worry I can handle it." Zane said while he reloaded his gun but he still couldn't stand well

"Hey guys do you mind if I join you? It's a bit clear over here you know." Cid said and went to regroup with them

"Sure another hand is always better." Riku said

As Leon couldn't hold his position any longer he was also forced retreated to the group...

"They just don't stop do they?" Leon said as he felt like they were losing

"Hey guys it's getting worse there are a group of these white nobodies coming in the distance!" Yuffie said while she was still fighting on top of the wall

"No! We can't hold them like this!" Leon said

"I have just the idea, be right back!" Cid said as he ran off

After a few minutes Cid came back with some huge cannon...

"What the heck is that?" Leon asked since he never saw such a big cannon before

"It's some kind of big cannon… I think." Cid said as he didn't even know exactly what it was

"Great do you know how to use it then?" Riku asked as he hoped there was some reason why Cid ran off

"Well we'll see!" Cid tried to operate the cannon but he couldn't figure out how

"There are no freaking levers or buttons! There is nothing but metal on this thing!" Cid said embarrassed since he never looked good at it before

"Okay time to get rough!" Zane said because he knew there was no other choice

"What do you mean?" Riku asked confused

"It's time to see what this power can actually do!" Zane said and ran towards the Heartless and soon thereafter he began to shine in a bright yellow light

"Zane! What the heck do you think you are doing!" Riku shouted as he ran after Zane

Zane ran outside of the city's gate and into the heartless troops as there was a huge explosion which pushed Riku back and both the heartless and the nobodies were gone but so was Zane

"Guess that took care of the heartless and nobodies." Leon said since he was relieved that the heartless and the nobodies were gone

"Damn! Why do people always take the tragic way?" Cid said as he never liked battles when someone has to be sacrificed

"He is still alive, I saw a light in the distance, remember the village that got destroyed?" Yuffie said

"Yeah what about it?" Leon asked

"Well something just landed there!"

"It must be Zane!" Riku said

"I will go! It's my mistake that he made that decision after all." Cid said as he felt responsible

"Okay the rest of us will go back to Merlin's place and figure out a way to fix the dam." Leon said and was ready to leave

"Hey! Leon I will go with Cid okay?" Yuffie said as Leon knew why she said it

"Fine by me but Riku has to come with me to tell me what exactly happened before." Leon said because he knew that she never liked to fix things

"Okay." Riku said and followed Leon

"Well it seems like I am going to be stuck with you!" Cid said knowing that she would not stop talking

"Hey what's wrong with that?" Yuffie asked with an angry face

"Nothing at all!" Cid said as he tried to let her back off

Riku and Leon came back to Merlin's place, Cloud was taking care of Tifa who was bleeding a bit on the sofa and Merlin was waiting...

"Where are the others?" Merlin asked while he stroked his long gray beard

"They are going to search for Zane." Leon said and took a seat

"What happened?" Cloud asked while he was treating Tifa's wound which wasn't as bad as he thought it would have been

"He got reckless on the last moment and made some explosion and disappeared afterwards with all the heartless and nobodies."

"I am sorry; it's all my fault, if I was just a bit more careful this wouldn't have happened." Tifa said weakly

"It isn't your fault he would have done that either way because they just kept on increasing." Riku said

"Well no use thinking about it anymore since they are gone, so we will just have to fix the dam and afterwards the city, then we can make this place great again." Leon said as he stood up and was ready to leave

In the meantime in space...

"I don't see any world anywhere!" Donald said because he couldn't see anything but blackness

"I wonder what happened." Goofy said confused

"Hey look I see a world there!" Sora said as he saw a world in the distance

"Where where!" Donald shouted since he still couldn't see anything

"There! Come on, land us." Sora said

Goofy finally saw the world but he saw something else as well "Could you wait there is some kind of light coming from there." Goofy said as the light was taking over the entire world and then suddenly the whole world exploded but there were no remains it all just disappeared

"Whoa! It exploded, how did that happen!" Sora asked as they all looked confused at each other

Back in Hollow Bastion at the Dam...

"Okay almost made it!" Leon said since he almost finished fixing the dam

"Hey what's that in the sky?" Riku asked as he pointed to something black in the sky

As it came rushing down it landed near Merlin's place...

"It's with Merlin! Let's go!" Leon said and they all rushed to Merlin's place

Once they got to Merlin's place they saw a ship made out of blocks crashed on the ground...

Leon was the first one to enter the house and he looked for Merlin "Merlin, are you okay?" Leon asked as he found him with his books but he was talking to someone

"So what did you do all this time Sora?" Merlin asked while he took a book and put it on his table

"Sora?" Leon was surprised that Sora was back as he expected him to come back later

"Leon, how are you, I am sure you missed me right?" Sora said with a smile on his face

"Sora!" Riku shouted when he saw him

"Riku! You are here!" Sora shouted surprised

"Yeah I am. How have you been?"

"I'm fine, but where's Kairi?" Sora asked since he expected Kairi to be with him but Riku shook his head

"Long time no see Sora." Cloud said as he remembered fighting Sora before at the Olympus coliseum

"Cloud? You look kinda different." Sora said since he remembered him wearing rags and he had wings

"Well I must say I found my light." Cloud said while looking at Tifa whom was lying beside him on the couch and she waved weakly at him

"So where's this other guy that was with you before Riku?" Donald asked suspiciously

"Well alot of heartless came so we tried to fight them off, but then these nobodies came and he might have sacrificed his life to kill them." Leon said

"So anyway if he's alive, Cid and Yuffie are looking for him." Cloud said

"Well anyway hopefully if he comes back we will try to get to Kairi." Riku said

"Really how?" Sora asked excited

"Well Yen Sid gave Zane some powers which would help us find her. But before all that we should fix the dam."

"Afterwards we will check out Ansem's secret Laboratory." Leon said

"Huh? You didn't say that you found it in the first place." Riku said

"I had a lot on my mind."

"Well let's go, I don't want to do nothing the whole time." Riku said as they all left except for Cloud who stayed behind with Tifa while Merlin as usual disappeared

Somewhere in the distant village...

"Will you look at this place, it's completely ruined!" Cid said angrily

"It's also pretty cold here!" Yuffie said while she was the whole time rubbing her arms as she was feeling cold

"Help me!" Zane shouted as he was stuck under some heavy stones

"There under the rubble!" Yuffie said and Cid immediately began removing the stones that were on Zane

"Hey are you okay?" Cid asked him while Zane helped him stand up

"Yeah I'm now." Zane said as he brushed the dirt off him

"Allright we better get out of here because I have a bad feeling about this place!" Cid said and he was about to leave but Zane stopped him

"Wait; there is another person around here somewhere." Zane said

"You don't mean Sephiroth do you?" Yuffie asked

"No it was a young woman; she said something like squall the whole time as if she was searching for someone." Zane said

"Okay can you walk coz if you can't then you will have to wait here." Cid said as he would have felt better that Zane stayed away

"I can walk."

"Great… Let's look for this girl then, I just hope we won't run into Sephiroth."

"Just one question, why didn't she help you?" Yuffie asked confused

"Well my voice didn't come back yet coz of the dust I couldn't speak."

While they were searching for the young woman, Leon and the others got the dam working again...

"Okay it's fixed we can have some clean water again!" Leon said pleased

"Okay I guess we are going to check out Ansem's place then." Sora said impatiently

"Mind if I join you all? Tifa is healing up pretty well so she doesn't want me around." Cloud asked as he came back

"No problem, let's get going!" Leon said while they all packed their tools and left

In the meantime in Merlin's place...

"And that's how Arthur became king, interesting story right?" Merlin said as he finished telling the story of King Arthur

"I still don't understand how he could take the sword out of the rock when no one else could." Marlene said while Merlin looked at her with his mouth wide open

"What? This is about the third time I explained it to you!" Merlin nearly shouted as he felt annoyed from the girl

"It's your mistake for not explaining well!" Marlene shouted

"I explain it very well; it's just that nothing goes through that thick skull of yours!" Merlin began shouting since he felt enough from the girl

"Enough you two! Stop fighting… Geez it's like listening to a children's quarrel." Tifa said while she was lying on the couch and they both stopped immediately and looked the other way

In the meantime at Ansem's Lab Leon and the others were searching his room for anything useful

"Is this it?" Sora asked as the only thing that was in the room was some paintings and a desk full of papers

"Kind of boring I was expecting something like computers and maybe some research, not some boring paper with some notes about groceries." Riku said when he saw a few papers which had groceries written on it

"Well I don't think that he wanted everything to be seen so easily." Leon said mainly trying to convince himself since there was nothing there of interest even though it took him a few days to uncover this room

Cloud began knocking on the walls at certain parts until he found the place "Behind this wall is another room." Cloud said and began kicking the wall until his leg went through the wall as white smoke came out causing him to cough a little while Leon helped him now to remove the remaining stones

"I wouldn't have thought of that myself." Leon said as they took all the stones away in a matter of minutes and they could see the next room which they could see from a distance looked like a control room

"Cool!" Sora shouted and went inside the next room

Leon and the others went through the passage that Cloud opened and came to a small room with a large computer and a small monitor on one side and on the opposite side it had a large monitor probably used to see better and there was one steel mechanical door on the right side of the computer

"Okay this is it people." Leon said as he checked the door but it wouldn't open and he saw a mechanical lock beside it so he guessed the computer might be able to open it so he went back and sat on the chair and he opened the computer

It took the computer a little while to open but once it finished it came to a login screen so he tried to leave it blank and he clicked logon and it worked "Allright I'm in."

"Okay look for Heartless inside." Sora said

"Hmmm..." Leon checked the computer for it but it didn't find anything "No information about the Heartless, anything else?" Leon asked as he wanted quick suggestions

"Umm... What about the nobodies?" Sora said and Leon began typing it in

"... Nothing as well."

"Agh what's with that computer?" Sora wondered since he couldn't figure out what else was important

"Look for Ansem." Riku said since he wasn't entirely sure he trusted him

"... Found something and there seems to be a picture as well, take a look." Leon said and he put Ansem's profile up and moved out of the way so that the others could see

They saw picture of a man with a small beard and he had blonde hair not grey...

"What? That can't be Ansem right Donald?" Sora asked while he looked at Donald for answers

"No it isn't him!" Donald said as he remembered Ansem's face very well

"Perhaps the computer is wrong." Goofy said since he didn't really understand anything about technology

"Well this is what it found." Leon said and he wanted to open additional files but the rest seemed to be locked "I guess we will have to wait for Cid to come and crack the rest of the files coz everything else seems locked."

In the meantime Cid, Yuffie and Zane were looking for the girl that Zane mentioned hearing "Hey anybody here!" Cid shouted while he was looking for the girl that Zane mentioned

"Are you sure that there was a young woman here?" Yuffie asked as she was getting suspicious since they were searching already for about an hour and they didn't find anyone

"Almost a 100 percent sure." Zane said because he knew there was a slight chance that he heard wrong

"Almost… But not completely." Yuffie said in a joking way

However they heard a voice in the distance calling for help

"Wait did you hear that?" Cid asked the rest and they nodded

"That was the voice I heard!" Zane said as they all followed the voice

Once they got near the voice they found the young woman, she had black long loose hair and she wore black pants and shirt and had a light blue thin vest over it but beside her was Sephiroth as he was holding her

"Sephiroth?" Cid was surprised to see him alive because the last time Cloud had killed him but he knew better that Sephiroth always found a way to come back

"It's been a long time Cid!" Sephiroth said with tone of coldness

"What do you want?" Cid asked angrily since he really felt enough of him

"Well you see it seems the last time Cloud defeated me it had gotten quite more difficult to reform myself and live so I have quite a bit of a problem, but I found out that with that boy's _special _power that problem will go away."

"Is that why you took her?" Zane asked as he pointed to the woman that he was holding beside him

"Oh, this thing? Nah she was just a lure." Sephiroth said and pushed her away "It's your power I want!" He lunged straight at Zane but Zane luckily avoided his attack

"Do you really think I will give it up so easily?" Zane said as he took his handgun and shot him several times in the chest

"Haha! Do you really think that _you_ can kill me?"

"What?" Zane looked at Sephiroth who took some bullets which had gotten stuck on his clothes and threw them away and suddenly he slashed at Zane but luckily he ducked on time

Zane took an iron stick from the ground and began fighting as he tried to hit Sephiroth but he blocked each strike "Your fighting skills are _embarrassing!_" Sephiroth laughed as he kicked Zane in his stomach which sent him to the ground

"Yuffie take the girl out of here, I will help Zane." Cid said and Yuffie agreed

So Yuffie took the girl, and Cid took his spear and came to Zane's aid...

"It's time to finish this!" Cid shouted as he joined the battle

Cid quickly lunged his spear at Sephiroth but missed so he quickly struck again and he hit his arm but Sephiroth didn't even seem to flinch

They fought for some time but it looked like Sephiroth was getting only stronger

"This is not good; he is just too strong." Zane said feeling weaker as his wound had reopened

"Where's Cloud when we need him." Cid said as he knew that Cloud was always the one who could stand against him

"Let's see if this power is useful enough." Zane raised his arm and held his hand forward and a bright light came bursting from his hand towards Sephiroth...

Sephiroth shouted in pain but the light faded too soon and Sephiroth was still there "I can't any more." Zane said while he felt he went to the edge of his power

"It seems like I underestimated you but no matter it all ends here!" Sephiroth said and lifted his sword again

"Yes it will end but not the way how you think it will!" Cid said as he took out a cigarette and lighted it

"Is that how you will end it? Haha, you are dumber than you look."

"Wrong thought coz I have just the thing to end it." Cid took out dynamite as well and lighted it with his cigarette and threw it to him...

"Come on!" They both ran away as the dynamite exploded, but when they looked back Sephiroth was gone...

"Do you think he is dead?" Zane asked

"I wouldn't count on it! He never dies."

When they left, they found Yuffie and the young woman running towards them...

"Hey we are back in one piece." Cid said while smoking his cigarette

"What about Sephiroth?" Yuffie asked

"Cid blew him up with his dynamite but there was no body." Zane said

"He probably isn't dead but he is gone for now anyway." Cid said as he turned his attention to the young woman who was standing there looking surprised "What is your name?"

"My name is Rhinoa… Who are you people?"

"I am Cid, the talkative little ninja beside you is Yuffie and this is Zane, we are the residents of Hollow Bastion… What about you are you also living here?"

"No, I was in Balamb Garden and… I can't remember what happened afterwards but the next thing I remember is waking up here in this ruined village."

"What the heck is Balamb garden?" Cid asked since the word Balamb just sounded weird for him

"Hush up Cid!" Yuffie said angrily and she put her hand forcefully over Cid's mouth as he tried to keep on speaking "We can discuss all this later." With those last words she removed her hand and Cid nodded as they went quietly back to the city of Hollow Bastion

When they finally came inside Merlin's house, it was empty no one was there "Where've they all gone?" Cid asked while he looked around but found nothing except for Yuffie, she found a note on the round table which stood in the middle of the room and she read it aloud

"Meet us at the Lab, we have a problem… Hurry" She finished reading the note and Cid immediately knew where to go

"Follow me, I know the way." He shouted and everyone ran after him except Zane as he couldn't go on much longer

"I'm staying here, so go on ahead without me." Zane said as he sat on the couch feeling dead beat

It didn't take them long to get to Ansem's room and they saw Marlene playing with Merlin's beard as Merlin seemed to be annoyed

"What's happened?" Cid asked while panting from all the running

"Leon, Riku and Sora and his friends disappeared, Cloud is checking the computer now to find out what happened but he has little luck." Merlin said while he pulled his beard back from Marlene's grasp

They all went inside the lab as they saw Cloud sitting behind the computer with Tifa hovering beside him

Cloud saw Cid coming back but noticed that Zane wasn't with them "Where's Zane?"

"He's resting at Merlin's place for now, but what happened?" Cid asked "Allright that's good, now to the point. They were here in this room at the same time as Leon was checking some extra things on the computer because he got a little impatient and Tifa and I went to take something to drink. But as soon as we got back nobody was here anymore." Cloud said as he stood up from the chair and looked at Cid hoping he could find out what happened

"Allright lemme check to see what I can find." Cid said and sat in the chair and immediately began typing

As Cid was checking the computer he found a video from last events...

"Here! It seems like there is a camera here somewhere."

Once he opened the video they saw Leon and the others checking the computer when suddenly King Mickey came when suddenly the computer malfunctioned and some light came and they disappeared...

"Now this is weird."

"So what do we do now?" Cloud asked as he didn't know what to do

"I haven't any freaking idea."

Suddenly they saw a program talking to them...

"Warning! Intruders spotted closing doors in 5,4,3…"

"Let's get out of here!" Cid said as he ran for the door and so did the others

They were all out just in time before an iron door came out of the wall and closed off the room...

"How can we take them out now?" Yuffie asked since the door was completely sealed

"I have an idea I can make an anti program that will oppose it and then I can control the computer and probably take them out." Cid said

"Okay what are you waiting for make it!" Yuffie said as she felt like in the ordering mood

"Okay back to Merlin's place, if you don't mind Merlin."

"As long as you keep your nose out of my business." Merlin said because he wasn't pleased that Cid had to go back to his place

"But what about this door?" Rhinoa now asked

"I will open it. No worries." Cloud said

But then suddenly alot of heartless appeared...

"Oh no, not again." Cid said as he really felt enough from all the heartless

"Okay I have an idea, Cid you go back to work on the program with Merlin, Tifa, Marlene and Rhinoa while I stay here okay?" Cloud said and Cid agreed

"Fine by me let's go!" Cid said as the rest followed him except for Rhinoa

"Please let me stay as well, I can use magic and I can fight." She said and Cloud agreed as he could use the help

"Okay but you stay on the back okay?" Cloud said and Rhinoa agreed

"Okay here's the rest of the plan, you will just have to use any magic you see fit to get the heartless as far away from me as possible while I open the door." Cloud said while he went to the door and tried lifting it

"Okay, I won't let you down." Rhinoa said as she went behind Cloud and began casting fire and ice spells continuously behind eachother to keep the heartless as far back as possible

"How much longer?" Rhinoa asked as she avoided a Heartless's attack and threw a fireball at it but the heartless were coming to fast for her

"Still a while!" Cloud said and he used all his strength to raise the door

But then suddenly Maleficent appeared in the distance...

"Haha! Get them and show no mercy." Maleficent shouted in the distance as she was controlling the heartless

"Hurry!" Rhinoa shouted when she saw that Maleficent was casting some kind of spell

"I am doing my best here."

"Oh power of dragons give me your power and vanquish the enemy with thine dragon breath!"

"Got it!" Cloud shouted while he could finally open the door

They went inside just on time as there was a big flame coming from Maleficent...

"Close the door!" Rhinoa shouted and Cloud closed the door again

Back in Merlin's place...

"Okay all done! The only thing it requires now is this old man's magic!" Cid said as he took the cd out of the computer

"Old man! Look at yourself, you are no spring chicken either!" Merlin said since he never liked to be called old

"I ain't old like you!" Cid said as Merlin was getting furious

"That does it! THUNDER!" Merlin shouted while a bolt of electricity hit Cid on his head and he fell down almost breaking the cd

"Stop it both of you! Merlin can you just use your magic to help Leon and the others?" Yuffie said as she was feeling enough from their fighting

"Okay only for you."

Cid stood up while his hair was completely spiked up "Here but… Do it good!" Cid said as he gave the cd to Merlin

So Merlin put some magic inside the cd and it was finished...

"Okay it's finished, anybody coming?" Cid asked around since he would surely need someone with him

"I am sorry but I must stay with Marlene." Tifa said as she sat beside Marlene

"As much as I would like to go, it seems like I'm not really in a good condition to fight." Zane said as he was holding his chest while he changed his position on the couch

"I don't want to go with you!" Merlin said in disgust

"What about you Yuffie?" Cid asked and Yuffie was about to disagree but she changed her mind and agreed

"Thanks let's go!"

So he went with Yuffie to the lab but once they got there they saw that the door was destroyed and the heartless were inside...

"Oh no what happened?" Yuffie said as she saw the debris with loads of heartless

"It seems like they went through."

"How can we get past them?"

"Is that who I think it is?" Cid asked when he saw a woman all dressed in black in the distance

"Maleficent she is alive!"

"If I just had dynamite now with me I could have blown them up, but unfortunately I forgot to take it." Cid said as he pretty much regretted it

"Then we have to fight them face to face." Yuffie said and they rushed in to attack the heartless

As they finished taking out most of the heartless they saw inside the lab Cloud and Rhinoa fighting even more heartless

"Is it endless or what?" Cloud wondered as the heartless just didn't seem to stop appearing

"I don't know, I just hope the others come soon." Rhinoa said

"Well it isn't always so useful to depend on others." Cloud said and slashed a heartless behind him and continued on after another

"Okay time to use my new old fashioned bombs." Cid said while he took a weird looking bomb out his pocket

"Huh? Are they new or old now?" Yuffie asked confused

"Both!" Cid ignited the bomb and threw it at the heartless "Okay just wait for 10 seconds and it will explode."

"Well within 10 seconds can happen alot." Yuffie said when saw both Cloud and Rhinoa battling the heartless but the bad thing was that they were getting closer to the bomb

"What the hell! Cloud get back!" Cid shouted but Cloud couldn't understand him

"Run away there is a bomb there!" Cid shouted even louder now as Cloud finally understood him and he saw the bomb and he immediately began running away but it was too late as the bomb finally exploded

"Damn!"

All the heartless were gone, the only ones left were Cloud and Rhinoa on the floor. So Cid and Yuffie ran towards them and checked their pulse to see if they were still alive...

"They are still alive!" Cid said as he felt a steady pulse

"Cid you put the cd inside the computer, I will look after them." Yuffie said while Cid rushed to the computer

Cid had put the cd inside and the program started to speak again...

"Warning! Unknown hardware… burning unknown threat."

"To hell with you!" Cid said and clicked the install button

It took only a few seconds before the program began to malfunction "Warnnning willl buurrrrnnnn tththe tthhreaattt."

The program got deleted and the new program got installed...

"How are they Yuffie?" Cid asked while he took the cd out of the computer

Yuffie checked their wounds and saw that they weren't too bad "They will be fine!"

"Okay time to bring the rest back. I just push this and they will come back." Cid pushed the button and a light appeared as Leon, Riku, Sora, Mickey, and the rest appeared

"We are back!" Sora said surprised

"I told you we would be back." Donald said with confidence

"What happened here?" Leon asked as he saw the whole place in a mess

"We just had a Heartless infestation to deal with." Cid said while he looked at the mess also now as there was debris all over the room

"Squall!" Rhinoa shouted when she saw Leon

"Rhinoa is that really you?" Leon said as she got up from the ground and quickly leaped in his arms

"I thought I lost you." She said sobbing while Leon was comforting her

"Don't worry I am fine."

"Hmmm where's Zane?" Mickey wondered as he knew that he was usually nearby

"Oh Zane's at Merlin's place. He will be fine in a couple of days." Cid said

"He's awake!" Yuffie shouted

"Ugh what happened?" Cloud asked while he stood slowly up

"Sorry I used a bomb and you both got a bit close." Cid said as they were both eying eachother

Suddenly the computer found the data from Ansem...

"Okay we are in!" Cid said and rushed to the computer and checked for the data on the computer but again they found data about Ansem only

"Hmmm it says that this guy is Ansem but he sure looked different the last time I saw him." Cid said as he didn't recognize the face

"Yes I remember now that is Ansem the wise, I met him once." Mickey said as his memory began to come back about Ansem

"What!" Sora, Donald and Goofy shouted at the same time

"What do you mean the guy we defeated wasn't Ansem?" Sora said

"No he was merely an imposter."

"So we went through all that trouble just to destroy an imposter?" Sora said as he felt like all that he did was useless

"So who is he?" Donald asked

"I don't remember."

Suddenly a man in black clothes appeared...

"I have a message from the boss." The man took a piece of paper from his pocket and began reading out loud "I must congratulate you for killing the heartless now we nobodies can come in freely… What a stupid message is this? I thought it was going to be something cool since I couldn't read it before…Ah whatever."

"Organization XIII!" Sora shouted as he remembered them from their clothes

"What, who are they?" Leon asked since he never heard of that group before

"Let me tell you, we are nobodies who are searching for life and to get life we must have alot of hearts so that we can live again as we used to." The man said

"I won't let you!" Cloud said as he tried to hit the man but he disappeared and appeared behind him

"Oh by the way Sephiroth helped us and he too has given himself to darkness." And after that he disappeared in a black smoke...

"Oh no if what he says is true then there will be two Sephiroths." Sora said since he knew that meant trouble

"Two!" Cloud nearly shouted as he felt that it would be nearly impossible to defeat him now that there are two

"So that's how he could be in that other place and here at the same time." Riku said as he finally understood

"We have to restore peace to the worlds." Donald said while Goofy looked at him as he knew that Donald was forgetting something important

"But how do we do that without a Gummi ship?" Goofy asked

"Don't tell me that you forgot me." Cid said

"What do you mean?" Sora asked confused as Cid pulled a long face

"So you did forget me, anyway no problem I can take you to any world that you want."

"How?" Riku asked this time

"I have an airship." Cid said while everyone looked surprised at him

"You mean Sierra?" Cloud guessed

"Correct but it will take a few days till I can make her fly out of the world."

"How long will it take for you to fix our Gummi ship?" Sora asked since he liked his Gummi ship more than a big airship

"Not patient are you? Well let's see… About 2 days."

"Okay can you fix our Gummi ship then?"

"Okay it will be done tomorrow." Cid said as he knew it wouldn't be difficult to fix a small ship

"Huh? I thought you said 2 days?" Goofy asked confused

"We'll see." Cid said and left to fix the Gummi ship

"I'll be helping Cid out." Yuffie said as she rushed outside to catch up with Cid

"I will go around town to see if everything is okay." The King said while both Donald and Goofy followed him and not long afterwards Cloud left as well

"We will be back later." Leon said and took Rhinoa's hand and left

"Well it seems like everyone has something to do." Riku said as everyone left and only he and Sora were left "Sora I must tell you something. I knew that the Ansem that you defeated wasn't the real one."

"What? How did you know?"

"I am working with Ansem the Wise and he helped you wake up."

"So who is this guy that I defeated then?" Sora asked since he didn't know now if he made any difference by defeating someone he doesn't even know

"I don't know whenever I ask Ansem he says that it's personal."

"So where did this Zane guy turn up?" Sora asked as he couldn't trust him

"I don't know one day he helped me out and since then he was with me. Anyway I have some bad news. Somehow Maleficent is still alive." Riku said as Sora's face quickly changed

"What? But we defeated her."

"I know but she is somehow still alive."

"So we still have her to deal with? Why don't they just stay dead for once?" Sora said as he felt like there was no use in killing them if they just keep on coming back alive

"Okay I think we should be going now." Sora said but he couldn't get the imposter out of his mind and Maleficent being alive didn't help at all


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Restoration of Hollow Bastion

In Merlin's place...

"Cloud!" Marlene shouted when she saw Cloud walk through the door

"Hey Marlene, are you okay?" Cloud asked as she nodded

"Cloud, are you okay?" Tifa asked as she saw that he was pretty tired

"Yeah just a few scratches."

"Thanks for coming back because this girl was giving me a headache!" Merlin said while he looked at Marlene who was sticking out her tongue to him

In the meantime Cid was fixing the gummi ship with Yuffie...

"Okay Yuffie that part has to go in that hole." Cid said as he saw that Yuffie was confused

"Which hole?" Yuffie asked since she didn't know which one

"That one!"

"There a lot of holes so which one is "That one"?" Yuffie asked nervously

"The first one on the right."

"This one?" Yuffie asked as she pointed to the one on her left

"No I said on the right that's left!"

"This one then?" Yuffie asked when she finally pointed to the right hole

"Yes!" Cid said feeling like he could do it better alone

The next day Sora and the others woke up by a motor sound...

"Done! All in a day's work!" Cid shouted as he felt relieved that he could finish it

"What you already finished?" Sora asked surprised while he was rubbing his eyes

"Never question my skills kid!" Cid said with pride

"Thanks, guess I will just have to look for Donald and Goofy then." Sora said as he got out of his bed

"Oh don't worry about that I already took care of that, they are waiting outside including the king." Cid said and Sora went outside and he saw the gummi ship fixed and made a bit bigger...

"Wow! It looks awesome!"

"Come on Sora! I can't wait to get inside." Donald said impatiently

"The king is going to come with us." Goofy said

"Really your majesty?" Sora asked as the king nodded

"Yes I must find out the truth."

"Truth? What truth?" Sora asked confused

"I will tell you about it later."

"Well Sora it seems like this is goodbye for now." Riku said behind Cid

"You aren't coming?"

"No I will go with Cid later in his airship and check out some places and then we will look for Kairi together."

"You promise?"

"I promise!" Riku said and they shook hands

"See ya Sora and take care of yourself." Zane said behind Sora as he shocked

"I… I sure will." Sora said as he never felt at ease with him around

"Sora, let's go!" The king said and Sora went inside the ship and flew up into the sky

"Well as long as you both are here you can help me with the reconstruction of Hollow Bastion, and for that I made a special card for all of us." Leon gave everyone a card written Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Member on it.

"Doesn't look too bad…" Zane said as he took the card and attached it to his jacket

Afterwards everyone took a bit of a small break to fix some things because of what happened and then they would start fixing the rest of the town

After a week the mess that the heartless had left behind had been cleaned up but the city itself was far from being whole as a lot of buildings were half destroyed from some previous war which they didn't know of

Leon came inside Merlin's place with a box full of gloves, hammers and nails because Merlin's house had become their meeting point nowadays

"Well are you all ready!" Leon asked enthusiastically

"What do we start with first?" Yuffie asked excited

"Well I will give some of you a choice for what you want to do, okay Zane you choose first do you want to defeat some heartless with the city border or do you want to help with fixing some building?"

"I would prefer fighting over fixing." Zane said since he liked fighting more than fixing things

"Okay anyone else wants to go with him?"

"Let Yuffie go with him, otherwise nothing will be fixed anytime soon." Cid said as Yuffie gave him an angry look

"Okay I guess that Yuffie will be going with Zane while the rest of us will go to fix some buildings, and whoever finishes quickly helps the other okay?" Leon said and everyone agreed "Okay let's get to work then!"

Sora and the others had gone through several worlds in that week to search for any clues about the organization but with little luck until they found a world which looked a little odd as it looked like there was only forests on the whole planet so they landed there because it looked like the perfect place

As they landed the whole place was pretty dark as only a few rays of sunlight could come through the trees "It's very scary here." Donald said while his teeth were clattering

"I am scared too Donald." Goofy said since he too felt scared as the trees were moving wildly making creepy shadows

"Oh come on it's just a forest." Sora said when they suddenly heard a scary laugh in the distance "What was that!"

"We will never know if we stay here." The king said and they walked for a while. After about fifteen minutes they found themselves walking in circles because they came back to the gummi ship...

"What? How come we are here again?" Sora said feeling annoyed

"It seems like we are walking in circles." The king said

Then suddenly a hand touched Donald's arm "Whaaaaaaaaa! Something touched me."

However when they looked there was nothing there...

"I think you are starting to imagine things Donald." Goofy said when suddenly felt like somebody was touching his head but when he turned to look who was there he saw a creepy man with blood all over his face

"I think that we better get out of here!" The king said as he rushed back in the gummi ship

So the rest ran to the gummi ship and flew away

"I wasn't trying to scare them…" A small boy said to the man

"I know little one, these bushes are just too thick that they keep on scratching my face… And it seems like they thought I was a ghost or something." The man said and picked up the little boy

"Michael, when do you think that my brother will come?"

"Well the last time Dalia had contact with your brother was quite some time ago but I think that he will be back soon." The man said as they walked back through the bushes

"Phew what a relief." Sora said feeling relieved

But then suddenly there was laughter in the gummi ship...

Donald shocked from the laugh as he hit some buttons and the ship began malfunctioning "No, I can't hold on!"

Donald started to get wild and the gummi ship crashed somewhere as they were all unconscious...

Back in Hollow Bastion at the city border...

"Hmm I don't see any heartless." Yuffie said as there were no Heartless in sight

"Neither do I." Zane said when suddenly the cannon that Cid brought before became active "What the! It's moving!"

"Look out it's about to fire!" Yuffie shouted as it shot at them but missed by an inch but instead it destroyed a wall and nobodies suddenly came

"I guess we talked too soon!" Zane said when he saw the nobodies storming through the wall

"I will take these nobodies and you find a way to disable this cannon." Yuffie said and headed towards the nobodies

"Okay but take care."

"Ha you are talking to the great ninja Yuffie." Yuffie said with much confidence

In the meantime Leon and the others came to the place where they had to fix some buildings and other things...

"Okay everybody listen up! Cloud & Tifa you are going to Ansem's Lab and see if you can open the other door there.

Riku & Cid you are going to build a defense system through the town so that we can be safe, while I and Rhinoa will work here on the buildings okay?" Leon asked as everyone agreed and headed for their work

At Ansem's Lab...

"Okay then, let's see what's on this thing." Tifa said while she looked on the computer for information about the door

"Do you think that Barret is okay?" Cloud asked as he was a bit worried

"I'm sure he is! Why do you ask?"

"I am just worried about Marlene because she spends most of the time with Merlin."

"I know but we don't have any other choice and by the way Cid and Riku are going to Merlin to make the defense system so she will be fine."

"I guess so; you know whenever I talk to you I feel relieved somehow."

"I am glad to hear that." Tifa said as she felt happy that he began to open up to her now

At Merlin's place...

"Okay got to start working on some defenses." Cid said while he sat down with the computer

"You will make a defense system on the computer?" Riku asked surprised

"Yeah I found out that the computer in Ansem's lab controls the entire city so I will make here a defense system then I will install it on

Ansem's computer."

"Why don't you just make it on Ansem's computer then instead of making it here?"

"Because this old fool thinks that this thing is better than any other computer." Merlin said with a hint of anger in his voice

"Hey this isn't just a _thing_ it's my computer, and I am still in my thirties you are the old fool!" Cid said angrily now

"I am not a fool! And I am not old!"

"Whatever! You can work on this defense system Riku, I am going outside to fix Sierra."

"Yeah go fix that's all you are good at!" Merlin shouted

"Go to hell!" Cid shouted and he slammed the door on his way out

"What's with you two every time?" Riku asked as he didn't know why they both didn't like eachother

"You better mind your own business!" Merlin said pointing his wand at Riku

"Okay! No need to point that wand at me."

Back at the city border...

"I can't find anything to disable it!" Zane said as he only saw metal

"There has to be something!" Yuffie shouted while she held off the nobodies

"Oh wait I see something." Zane said when he came on top of the cannon and saw some wires and he pulled them out but then the cannon began shaking terribly

"Jump!" Yuffie shouted as Zane jumped but the cannon already exploded so he came on top of the wall

"It seems like it was a high jump." Zane said in a joking way as he sat on the top of the wall now

"What are you doing up there?" Yuffie said laughing

"Yeah, laugh all you want. I guess I will just stay up here and let you deal with the nobodies." Zane said as he turned his face away pretending to be angry

"Just come down." Yuffie said when suddenly she screamed from pain

"Are you okay?" Zane jumped down and killed the nobody and went to Yuffie

"Yeah it's just a scratch." Yuffie said as she saw that it was just a small wound on her arm

"Okay you stay in the back and I will take care of them."

"I can't wait the whole time while you fight them, I will fight beside you."

"Okay but just stay out of danger." Zane said and they both fought back the nobodies

After a while it got dark and everyone got back to Merlin's place except for Leon and Rhinoa

"What a day! It sure was tiring and Yuffie got hurt." Zane said while drinking some water

"I said it was just a scratch." Yuffie said as she sat beside Zane on the couch

"A scratch can always get infected and then it will be worse than a wound."

"You worry too much!"

"By the way I found my cannon destroyed near the city border did you do that?" Cid asked since he wasn't too happy about it

"Well it was about to kill us so I had to destroy it, sorry." Zane said as Cid stared at him which kind of made him feel uneasy

"…Well anyway it's better that you are back in one piece." Cid said but still agitated

"I finished the defense program; all we gotta do now is to install it on Ansem's computer." Riku said as he took the cd

"I never knew you were smart in computers Riku." Yuffie said while Riku scratched his head

"Okay Cid made it as well… Geez." Riku said disappointed that he couldn't make it himself

"Well we finished fixing the door but the other door just won't open, I think you will have to open it with the computer." Cloud said while he sat beside Marlene who was playing with Merlin's beard

"That's where I come in!" Cid said as he took the cd from Riku

"Has anyone noticed that Leon and Rhinoa are not here yet?" Tifa asked since she didn't see them

"I saw them on the way back; they were sitting looking at the sky." Zane said as he found it very boring

"Boring!" Cloud said sarcastically

"Cloud won't we sit and look at the sky?" Tifa said to Cloud

"Huh? I just said it was boring."

"Oh come on." Tifa said while she looked sad at Cloud and Cloud gave in as Tifa took Cloud by his arm and left

"Well anyway I am going to sleep now coz I will have a very early morning, G-night." Cid said and left

"Wait for me I am coming with you!" Riku ran outside after him

"Finally they leave I was getting really nervous." Merlin said as he took some books from his bookcase

"Won't you play with me grandpa Merlin?" Marlene asked while she followed Merlin around

"Yeah I will play with you but stop calling me grandpa."

"But you are all grey and you have such a long beard." Marlene said as she began playing with his beard again

"I guess it can't be helped."

"Zane could you come with me I found something that you may like." Yuffie said

"Like what?" Zane asked since he didn't tell anyone what he likes

"Come and you will see." Yuffie said as Zane followed her outside to a cave

"So what's in here?" Zane asked since he couldn't see anything and he wondered what could ever be in a cave what he would like

Yuffie put the light on and he saw a sword made out of silver and gold.

"Wow! It's beautiful how did you find this?" Zane asked as he was excited about the great looking sword

"I was searching for some treasure when I suddenly stumbled upon this sword."

"It sure is great! Thanks Yuffie how can I repay you?"

"No need."

"No I must give you something… But what?" Zane asked because he never liked to feel indebted to anyone

"Okay umm…Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"I don't really want to talk about that" Zane said but Yuffie looked at him disappointed so he couldn't resist "Okay but I prefer it if you don't say it to everyone… I don't remember exactly what happened before, all I can tell you is what happened from around two years ago I think okay?" Zane said as Yuffie nodded

"It was around two years ago I was 15 at that time I remember being in a fight as I was feeling very weak and there was this sharp pain in my head, I don't know what happened exactly but I suddenly awoke and found myself in some strange city and I remember I had a friend called Ziad he was one year younger than me. I didn't find him at first so I walked around a bit and I saw a man selling weapons I bought a weapon in return for my watch, and I went to search for Ziad but he was nowhere to be found and soon I was attacked by about ten people in black cloaks and I would have been dead but then Ansem came out of nowhere and helped me defeat them… Later told me he could help me find them, but he said I needed to be stronger in order to defeat them so I trained there for a year and a half until we found their hideout. It was in a forest where the spirits of the dead stay and if I was going to try and go through it they would kill me unless I had the power of light which I didn't have at that time so instead of going to their hideout I was doing missions for Ansem, the first one was to find out who betrayed him, I found out easily that all his apprentices betrayed him and teamed up with Xehanort who Sora and the others think was Ansem. But it was Xehanort and he has been trying to go into the hearts of people and get power from them, he first tried it on dead people but soon thereafter he started to kill people for their heart… Then he turned into a heartless and as you may already know if there is a heartless there is a nobody and Xehanort's nobody is currently the leader of Organization XIII." When Zane finally finished talking Yuffie's mouth was wide open

"Whoa! Okay enough with all this organization stuff, did you ever see your friend Ziad again?"

"Unfortunately no."

"Oh well I think it's getting late and we should be going back, and don't forget your sword."

"Yeah I won't, thanks again."

"No problem, I can't fight with a sword and you are the only one that could use it as Riku has a Keyblade and Leon doesn't want to let go of his Gunblade for even a second and Cloud has this huge sword which is ofcourse much better and everyone else can't use a sword so I gave it to you, but I was only worried that you might not know how to use it."

"I am pretty skilled with the sword, only problem was that mine broke." Zane said as they left the cave

Once the next morning came up Sora woke up finding himself on the destiny islands...

"I am back on my island? But where is Goofy and the others?" Sora looked around the island but it looked completely deserted "Where is everybody?"

"What are you doing here?" A male voice said in the distance

"Who is there?" Sora asked as he couldn't see anyone

"He asked you a question then answer first." Another voice said

"This is my island!"

"All right let's go Loz, we will let him see if this really is his island." The voice said

"Okay Yazoo let him enjoy his island!" Loz said laughing when suddenly everything turned black and cages and black grass and red water appeared

"What's happening?" Sora walked for a while and saw people getting killed without mercy by heartless, he tried to get near but something blocked his way

"What's this? Let me through!" Sora pushed and hit it with his keyblade but nothing happened and suddenly the heartless turned their attention towards him

"No this can't be happening!" Sora said when he was getting surrounded but then a light appeared and Sora saw it and he quickly went through it and he came out on the destiny island again but this time the people were all there and alive

"What just happened?" Sora wondered as everything was normal and there was no trace of what had just happened

"Sora! You are back!" Tidus shouted when he saw Sora

"It's Sora well welcome back then." Wakka said beside Tidus with a Blitz ball under his arm

"Tidus, Wakka how are you?" Sora said as he was relieved to see them

"We are fine but we have some bad news, sorry but we can't wait with it."

"What is it?" Sora asked worried since he saw how stern their faces were

"About a week ago, a man in black kidnapped Kairi we tried to stop him but he was too strong."

"Organization XIII took Kairi but why?" Sora wondered

"I don't know but they also took Selphie." Wakka said now

"What am I supposed to do? I can't find my gummi ship anywhere."

"You mean a ship that flies?" Tidus asked

"Yeah and my friends Donald, Goofy, King Mickey."

"A ship landed here but it's pretty big and a bit scary inside." Wakka said

"Some call it the Ghost Ship." Tidus said as he feared it

"Why?"

"Because in the night we hear screams from inside but no one is in it." Wakka said as Sora got the chills

"Now that's scary."

"Well we could come with you if you want because we were planning to check it out today." Tidus said with confidence

"Okay let's go because I have to save Kairi and Selphie." So they went to the ship and it looked like an old rotten pirate ship "Is this a pirate ship or something?"

"It sure looks like it." Tidus said when he saw some scimitars covered in dust

"Man it sure is dirty in here." Sora said as everything he touched had dust

"Who are you! And what are you doing on my ship?" A male voice said in the shadows

"I wanted to get to other worlds and I thought that this ship could fly." Sora said trying to keep all his courage to not run

"Well it can fly but why should I let you on it?" The man asked sarcastically

"I don't know take anything that you want."

"How about that weapon that you are carrying?" The man pointed to Sora's Keyblade

"You mean my Keyblade?"

"Yeah I will bring you anywhere if you give me your Keyblade."

"Okay you can have it."

"Are you sure you want to give something to this man? Maybe he is a ghost." Tidus said as he felt ill at ease

"Hmmm that was quick, what's the catch? Surely there is a catch." The man said as he took the Keyblade from Sora "Haha! Nice blade, huh?" Then suddenly the Keyblade disappeared and came in Sora's hand

"Ah there! So it can't leave its master?" The man said as he understood

"Yeah I'm sorry but can you get me off this world?"

"I guess I could but it will take a while to take off, in the meantime you can clean up here a bit."

"I am outta here, no cleaning for me sorry Sora." Wakka said and ran out of the ship with Tidus following him

Sora was disappointed but he didn't think much about it "I guess I will have to clean it on my own." So Sora cleaned up the ship and by the time he finished the man came back

"Hmmm I think we forgot to introduce ourselves right?" The man said

"I am Sora." Sora said but the man was waiting a little as he was expecting a longer introduction

"You are Sora and that's it? Well anyway I am CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow owner of the great Black Pearl." He said

"You have a black pearl?"

"But ofcourse." Jack said

"Can I see it?"

"Can you see it?" Jack asked as he began laughing "This is the Black Pearl!"

"You mean this ship?" Sora asked a bit confused

"Yes now hold on because we are ready to set sail!" So Jack went on deck and the ship began to fly

Back in Hollow Bastion...

"Rise and Shine Sleepy heads! I want to introduce to you my airship." Cid said

"You had to wake us up?" Zane asked sleepily

"Whoa! What's this?" Riku asked as he saw Zane's sword beside his bed "A nice sword man, where did you get it from?"

"Ah this… Yuffie gave it to me, beautiful eh?" Zane said as he took it and showed it to Riku

"Man it's the best gift I think."

"Hey what are you talking about?" Cid asked feeling left out

"Keep your voice down Cid!" Merlin said sternly

"Why should I?" Cid now nearly shouted

"This girl wants to sleep."

"Oh yes I forgot." Cid said feeling a little bad now

"So where is this airship?" Cloud asked since he heard Cid from outside

"It's outside the city border, there is no space to put it here you know?"

"Okay let's go see it then." Zane said as he was eager to see the airship

"Don't you think we should take the others first?" Leon asked while leaning against the wall

"Ofcourse we will take them on our way there." So they went to Yuffie's place

"Hey Yuffie wake up it's time for us to go!" Cid shouted as he banged on her door

"Already?" Yuffie asked while yawning

"Yeah hurry up or we will go without you!" Cid shouted and went back to wait in the car with the others

"Okay okay! Everyone wake up!" Yuffie shouted while she clapped her hands to wake both Tifa and Rhinoa up

"What time is it?" Rhinoa asked sleepily

"About 6 o'clock in the morning. Now hurry up!"

"What I overslept!" Tifa shocked as she jumped out of her bed and soon they joined the rest and went to the airship

As they got out of the city they saw a very big airship "Okay everyone it's SIERRA!" Cid said

"Now that's a real airship!" Leon said as he was referring to Sora's Gummi ship

"Okay we are ready to go anytime!" Cid said as he stopped the car near the airship

"First we will look for Sora and the others so that we can look for Kairi together." Riku said and Zane agreed

"Okay who's coming with us?" Cid asked but he didn't see anyone really eager about it except for Zane, Riku and Yuffie

"I am sorry but my obligation stays with this world." Leon said as he felt that this world needed his help

"I will stay with Squall." Rhinoa said since she didn't want to be away from him again

"What about you Cloud?" Cid asked since he was expecting him to come but his face already said the opposite

"I can't take Marlene with us on such a journey so I will stay here until Barret comes." Cloud said as Tifa was beside him agreeing with him

"I guess you are the only one left Yuffie." Cid said disappointed

"Ofcourse I will go I like to see different places." Yuffie said excited

"Okay it seems like this will be goodbye then Cloud, Tifa, Leon, Rhinoa stay safe if there is anything just call me." Cid said

"We sure will." Cloud said as they got on their airship and left

"I can't believe we are finally going to new places." Yuffie said still excited

"Hold on to something we are going through a warp gate!" Cid said and they held onto something while they went quickly through a warp gate and when they got out they saw a world that looked destroyed

"Whoa! I wonder what happened there." Cid wondered as the world was in a very bad shape but then the world suddenly exploded into small parts

"Things sure happen fast…" Zane said under his breath

"It just exploded!" Yuffie said surprised

"How could that happen?" Riku asked as he never thought they would actually explode

"I just hope no one got hurt." Yuffie said since she felt for the people that were on that world

"Whenever a world destroys, the people that are left either become heartless or they end up in another world." Zane said

"Incoming!" Cid shouted when he saw something big approaching on his radar

"What's coming?" Riku asked as he looked at Cid's radar but he didn't understand it

"I don't know but it's coming real fast!" Cid said as he saw it coming from the back

"Then go faster!" Yuffie shouted but Cid already did that

"I am doing it, blast! It got inside the cargo area; I can't fly well with the cargo open." Cid said

"Okay we will take care of it." Zane said since he was expecting what it was

So they all went to the cargo area where a big Heartless that looked more like a devil got inside.

"Whoa! That thing is really big!" Riku said as he shocked to see it that big as it almost filled the whole cargo area

"Not always the big heartless are the smartest ones, so if we use some strategy we should be able to handle it." Zane said

"Yeah it doesn't really look so smart." Yuffie said when suddenly it threw a box towards them but they moved in time

"Okay I will throw this metal box towards him while you keep him busy!" Riku said and both Zane and Yuffie got in position

"Okay Yuffie you take the left and back me up!" Zane said as Riku threw the metal box at the heartless and it turned his attention to Riku and was about to slash him when Yuffie slashed it from behind making it turn around and then Zane came as well from the back and slashed at it as well and it disappeared

"Well that went quicker than I had expected." Zane said

"All we gotta do now is close this big hole, but with what?" Riku looked around the area and some planks caught his eye "What if we use those planks to close the hole?"

"Great idea!" Yuffie said but Riku's face suddenly changed as something was missing

"Only one problem though, I don't see anything to stick it to the hole." He said as the planks wouldn't stick by themselves on the hole

"No problem surely Cid has some needles and a hammer around here somewhere." Yuffie looked in some boxes and checked the floor but she didn't find anything. "Man! I can't find any."

So Zane and Riku started to search for it as well until they found it in a box with food.

"We found it!" Riku said when he saw a hammer with some needles in the box but there was also some food stuck on the hammer

"But only it's a bit sticky." Zane said as he picked up the hammer and he could see the sticky substance all over the hammer

"That's disgusting, I am so not touching that!" Yuffie said

"It's alright, I'll fix up the hole." Zane said while he took the needles and a plank and began closing up the hole

"I guess you won't be needing any help." Riku said as Zane nodded "Okay let's go and tell Cid it's taken care of." So they left Zane and went back to Cid

"Is it dead?" Cid asked

"Yeah and Zane is fixing the hole now." Riku said as he took a soda from a table

"Fixing it with what?" Cid asked since he remembered that he left his hammer and needles with his food

"With your lovely Hammer and needles which was with the disgusting food." Yuffie said sarcastically as Cid felt embarrassed

Back in the cargo area Zane finished and was heading back until he saw that his hands were completely sticky so he went to the bathroom and cleaned his hands and soon afterwards he went to a room and rested on the bed

Zane lied down on the bed and sooner than he thought he fell asleep

"What is taking him so long?" Cid asked as Yuffie went to go check on him but suddenly she saw that a room door was open so she went inside and saw Zane sleeping on the bed, so she quietly closed the door behind her and went back to Cid and Riku

"So is he done yet?" Cid asked

"He is sleeping." She said and took a seat on the couch

"Well anyway did you find any world yet?" Riku asked

"Nope no any freaking world in sight." Cid said displeased

"What is that in the distance?" Yuffie asked as she pointed towards something big in the distance

"What the hell! It's a dragon!" Cid shouted

"Can't you shoot it?" Riku asked as he didn't see Cid doing anything

"I didn't program the missiles yet." Cid said feeling stupid now

"Okay turn around before it gets to us." Yuffie said

"Working on it!" Cid said while they slowly turned to the left

"Can't you go any faster?" Yuffie said pouting

"I am going as fast as I can Yuffie!" Cid said nervously

And finally they turned but the dragon was still following them, so Cid had an idea but it was kind of difficult

"Okay I can't leave this place so I have to ask one of you to take some bombs and go to the cargo area and throw them so that the dragon will leave us."

"Okay I will do it." Riku said as he took the bombs from the box near Cid

"Okay I will help." Yuffie said and they were going to the cargo area when suddenly Zane popped up before them

Yuffie screamed as she shocked from his sudden appearance "Don't do that?"

"Sorry I didn't mean to shock you." Zane said

"What are you doing up? I thought you were sleeping." Riku asked now

"You really think that I can sleep with Cid moving this airship so much?" Zane said feeling a bit annoyed

"Well ofcourse not." Yuffie said

Suddenly Zane noticed that Riku was holding some bombs "Planning to blow something up?"

"Not really but a dragon is following us, so if you will excuse me I must remove your planks and throw them at the dragon." Riku said

Zane sighed as he knew it couldn't be helped "I guess I will help you out then, I will have to put the planks back again after that." Zane said while they went to the cargo area together and removed the planks but the dragon was closer than they expected

"I guess we spent too much time talking, give me a bomb Yuffie." Zane said as Yuffie gave him a bomb and he then lit it with a lighter that he found and threw it at the dragon and it hit it right on the head but the dragon got angry and spitted fire on them missing all of them except Zane

His jacket got on fire so he took it off and threw another bomb at it and it hit it's eye and this time it left

"That's what you get for burning my jacket!"

"Zane your arm is bleeding." Yuffie said when she saw blood streaming down Zane's arm

"I guess the fire opened my wound, not a big deal."

"Here put this bandage over it." Yuffie said as she bandaged his arm "There that should do it!"

"Thanks Yuffie."

"Okay let's head back to Cid." Riku said

"I will stay for a while." Zane said as Riku got confused and Zane saw it so he explained "It seems like you forgot that the hole is open again so I will close it."

"Oh I forgot." Riku said feeling embarrassed

"No problem man, just go to Cid and tell him the threat is over now."

"Ok Yuffie shall we?" Riku asked and Yuffie followed Riku out

As they left, Zane threw his burned jacket outside the hole before he closed it

"So I can see that it's off my tail, Thanks." Cid said as he saw the dragon flying away

"It wasn't really my doing, Zane did it." Riku said as Zane came inside but didn't say anything

"So did you find any other world?" Yuffie asked

"Nothing yet. There's only blackness." Cid said as he didn't like it "You know I'm thinking the next time we land I am going to make these missiles work again, what you think?"

"A good idea." Yuffie said

"I agree." Zane said

A day has passed but still they didn't find any world

"Where did all the worlds go?" Zane wondered

"I don't know, there's nothing at all." Cid said since he wasn't all that pleased with pitch darkness

"Perhaps we are in the heart of the darkness." Riku said as it looked familiar to him

"Huh? What's that?" Yuffie asked

"It's a place where only a few worlds still are but these worlds are not normal."

"What do you mean with not _normal_?"

"Well once you land, the place can change within a second, for example you can land in a grassy area but suddenly you can be in an ocean for all I know."

"Okay I am turning back." Cid said and turned his wheel

"But can there be people down there?" Zane asked

"Yes but there was one world where the place will not only look different but at any second you can land in any other world outside the heart of darkness." Riku said

"I don't understand." Yuffie said confused

"Only men understand these things." Cid said sarcastically

"What!" Yuffie shouted angrily at Cid

"I think I understand, you mean to say that when you land and walk around you find everything normal but suddenly you be teleported to another world that really exists. Am I right?" Zane said and Riku nodded

"Aha now I understand." Yuffie said as she finally understood

"So then out we go!" Cid said while he turned his airship around and went with full speed back


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The hidden Lab of Heartless

Back in Ansem's secret lab Cloud, Leon, Rhinoa and Tifa were trying to open the special door

"So did you get it to work yet?" Cloud asked as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed as he was feeling bored

"Not yet but it is almost finished." Leon said while he kept on typing on the computer

"Cid had to be in a rush and leave us with this computer?" Tifa said angrily

"Access Granted! Finally!" Leon said feeling relieved

"I knew you could do it!" Rhinoa said when the door finally opened

"Okay let's check it out." Leon said as he went through the door and went down the stairs

As they came to the bottom there was another door but that one opened as soon as they got near and once they got through they saw a huge place with alot of big tubes so they went closer to take a better look at it

"What is this!" Leon wondered as he looked closer at the tubes which were all aligned vertically

"Yuck it's slimy." Rhinoa said as her hands were sticky after touching the tube

"Look over there!" Cloud said pointing at a red tube in the distance which was breaking and a heartless came out of it

"These tubes are making Heartless?" Leon said as some more tubes broke and more heartless came out of them

"What's that?" Tifa asked pointing to some kind of machine heartless making tubes and soon afterwards it saw them and rushed towards them

"Prepare yourselves!" Leon said while they all took their weapons out and were prepared but soon there came 2 more of these machines

"What are we supposed to do?" Rhinoa asked

"Hold your positions! We will have to stop them here or we will never be able to save this city." Leon said as he regretted opening the door now

The machines rushed towards them but Rhinoa froze one and Leon slashed it and it disappeared, while Cloud slashed all the legs of the remaining machines, Tifa punched them afterwards and they were destroyed but the machines kept on increasing as if there was no end

"No! We can't hold them we must retreat!" Leon said as he knew that they weren't enough to stop the machines

Then suddenly a redheaded man came and beside him was a man who was bald, they came rushing to their aid and they all worked together and they quickly killed the heartless machines

"You are always in trouble right Cloud?" The redhead asked

"What are _you_ doing here!" Cloud asked annoyed

"That isn't really a nice thank you now is it?"

"What do you want now? Do you perhaps need to kill a few more people to satisfy Rufus, TURK!" Cloud asked

"Look Cloud I have been putting up with you for a while now but if you don't back OFF!" The redhead said annoyed

"Back off! Look who's talking you, are the one that has to back off!" Cloud said pissed off as the redhead took his nightstick and prepared to attack, while Cloud too took his blade and was about to strike until Tifa held him

"Hey! Enough! Both of you!" Tifa said while the bald man came between them and he took the redhead a bit away from Cloud as Tifa took Cloud a bit away

"Let go of me!" Cloud shouted and tried to break free from Tifa's grip

"I can't do that! Can't you see that we don't need bloodshed anymore?"

"Say that to Reno!" Cloud said since he mainly blamed Reno

"I wasn't the only one who made bloodshed; YOU too killed a lot of our people!" Reno said angrily

"Really! And when was that!"

"Can't you remember blowing up sector 7? Do you think that the place was empty and no people were there?"

"What about you? You killed Jessie, Biggs and Wedge you hothead!"

"Agh! Let me go Rude!" Reno said as he tried his best to get free now

"This is no time to fight each other." Rude said and held Reno firmly

"Well I am sorry to break your bad reunion but we will have to close this place until we find a way out of this mess, So stop fighting and go!" Leon said with a stern voice and surprisingly they listened to Leon and they all left and Leon following them to the lab and closed the door behind him making sure no more heartless would follow.

"So what do you want now?" Cloud asked Reno

"I want to kill you." Reno released himself from Rude's hands and he took his nightstick and hit Cloud so hard in his face that his nose started bleeding badly, Cloud was shocked on how fast he was but he didn't care he gave him a hard punch in his face that sent him to the ground

"Stop it!" Tifa took Cloud and she was about to leave with him in order to stop the fighting but Reno stood up with a look of anger on his face

"You damned Spike head!" Reno said as he brushed some blood away from his lips

"What! Want another punch TURK!"

"I could give you a few! And it's EX for you!" Reno said when suddenly he and Tifa stopped after what he said

"Ex?" Tifa asked as hearing that word calmed them down

"Yeah I said EX TURK!"

"What about Rufus?"

"Rufus is dead. You should have seen him beg for mercy to that damned Sephiroth!" Reno said with a smile on his face as they were all still for a moment until Cloud broke the silence

"And you are happy for that?" Cloud asked confused

"Ofcourse! It was because of him that I was a Turk."

"Yeah right, you mean to say that you were forced to become a Turk?" Cloud said since he didn't believe him

"Yeah," Reno said while checking his own face a bit to feel if anything was broken and luckily nothing was "That really hurts you know!"

"You deserved it!" Cloud said still bleeding from his nose, he felt like he wanted to give that Redhead a good punch in his face again but then remembered if he did the problem would only worsen so he turned to leave and Tifa followed him outside

"I guess we will have to put up with that spike head for a while, let's go Rude." Reno said as he left with Rude following him out the door and the only ones left were Leon and Rhinoa who were completely confused about the whole matter

At Merlin's place Cloud came inside with Tifa and sat quietly on the sofa, Marlene saw them and she quickly ran towards them "Tifa! You are back!"

"Oh hi Marlene, how are you?"

"Very fine!"

Then Merlin suddenly saw that Cloud's nose was bleeding and he was anxious to know what happened

"What happened to your nose?" Merlin asked curiously

"Oh this? It will get better, just some old enemies of mine." Cloud said with a little anger

Merlin heard the way how he sounded but couldn't hold back his curiosity about who these enemies where

"Who are they?"

"Some Turks called Reno and Rude!"

"That's Ex Turks Cloud." Tifa said correcting him

"Whatever! It's still the same to me!"

"Why don't you just forget about the past?" Merlin asked but that seemed to annoy Cloud as he never wants to forget the past

"Merlin, stay out of this!" He said angrily

In the meantime Reno and Rude were roaming the street...

"I want to kill him!" Reno said as he could barely hold back his anger

"Calm down!"

"How can I calm down? It wasn't my mistake that his friends died, and he killed all these people that were left in sector 7 without caring about them."

"Then you are both equal."

"No we are never equals!" Reno said as he hit his foot against a wall with anger

"I meant to say that both of you are at fault, we are because of his friends and he is because of the explosion, that's why I say that you are equal."

"Agh! We will see!""

Somewhere in space Sora and Captain Jack found a world and landed in a city...

"Where are we?" Sora asked when he saw everything pretty modern

"I don't know but everything is so advanced here." Jack said as he saw all the buildings were made out of metal and some weird cars were flying

"Advanced?" Sora asked confused

"The technology!" Jack said as Sora now understood

Suddenly Jack's eyes saw a bar and he rushed inside...

"Hey where are you going!" Sora ran after him inside the bar and to his surprise he saw king Mickey and Donald, Goofy sitting at a table drinking some kind of green drink

"Donald! Goofy! King Mickey!"

They turned around and saw Sora and they ran towards him and they hugged eachother for a second and then they all sat down

"We thought that we lost you Sora!" The king said

"Why's that?"

"Well because we woke up on this world but you weren't here and we ran into one of the Organization members and they said that you were deab." Goofy said

"DEAD!" Donald shouted as some people turned to Donald because of the loud noise he was making and because of what he said

"Right D-E-A-D, dead."

"Keep your voice down Donald." The king said

"Um sorry." Donald said embarrassed

"So you believed a man from the organization?" Sora asked surprised

"What could we do? You were nowhere to be found." Donald said

"Okay shall we go in our gummi ship?" The king asked

"It's here?" Sora asked since he thought it was missing

"Yeah we were still in it when it landed." Goofy said as he drank from his glass

"Seems like I was the most unlucky one."

"If you are leaving Sora then I would like my reward." Jack said feeling impatient

"Who is that?" The king asked

"That's Jack he helped me fly here." Sora said pointing to Jack

"That's Captain Jack!" Jack said annoyed since he never liked it when they always forget to call him Captain

"Anyway how about I buy you some drinks Jack?"

"Fine but at least twelve!"

"Twelve!" Sora asked shocked since he knew that he wouldn't have that much munny on him

"Yeah it's not too expensive only fifty munny each!" Jack said as if that was just a small amount

The King saw that Sora was checking his pockets for the munny but he knew that he didn't have that amount of munny with him so he gave Jack a pouch with munny within it "There that should do it." Jack took the pouch and rushed to the bartender as he took a few glasses and immediately began drinking and they went outside

"So where's the Gummi ship?" Sora asked since he didn't see the Gummi ship anywhere

"It's with the mechanic. He's fixing it for us." The king said as they walked to the mechanic who was sitting at a desk with his head down revealing only brown hair which was a little bit spiky and it seemed like he was sleeping

"Is it finished Ziad?" The king asked while the mechanic looked up from behind his desk and stood up as they could see now that he looked pretty young around the age of sixteen and had jeans and a brown t-shirt on

"Yeah it's completely finished, you can probably go faster now." The mechanic said while he looked through one of his drawers and took a small key out "Here's the key." He threw the key to the king as he caught it

"How much did it cost?" Sora asked since he was expecting it to be expensive

"Didn't cost us anything." The king said smiling as Ziad went to one of his garages to open the door

"What do you mean?" Sora asked confused as he was expecting him to be at least a little bit like Jack

"He isn't asking for any munny but asked for a favor." Donald now said

"Which is?"

"Well he first asked if we knew someone called Zane and when I told him that he was in Hollow Bastion he wanted us to take him there." The king said when Ziad came back with the Gummi ship behind him as he had put it one some rollers

"You really know Zane?" Sora asked him as he didn't think that Zane would have had any friends

"Yeah we are friends." Ziad said while Sora looked at him a little shocked

"You know I don't trust and neither understand him."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"I don't know, he's just always creeping around and he looks like a cold person. What I mean is that he doesn't look like a person who cares much."

"Hmm... I can understand why he changed." Ziad said as he took a picture from his wallet

"He changed? He was different before?"

"It happened all after his brother disappeared…" Ziad looked at the picture which had a young boy with black short hair in green trousers and a light blue shirt in a room with two other people, one of them was Zane as he was smiling as he held him on his lap and the other one was Ziad beside Zane was sitting on one knee with a small toy robot

"We were just finished with one of our missions and we went back to Zane's house and we played a little bit with his brother until it was about seven in the evening… Suddenly the door flew open and one of our old friends called Michael rushed inside with a look of fear. He was one of the policemen in our city and we usually had our information from him, anyway he told us that some people in black cloaks were coming after us, so naturally we took a defensive position as we waited for them to come but they never came from the front. About five of them appeared behind us and before we could do anything they attacked us, Zane was the first to react as he took his brother and tried to escape as Michael and I tried to hold them off but they were too strong for us and they defeated us and they ran after Zane who was in the hall… I heard his brother screaming so I crawled all the way to the hall where I saw Zane surrounded by all five of these people and he tried to fight them off, but there was only so much that he could do barehanded as one of them had a sword he tried to hit Zane but he luckily missed as Zane grabbed his sword and killed him. By that time I was close enough to Zane when one of the cloaked men took his brother and disappeared in a black light. After the man took his brother he tried to fight of the remaining people but something strange happened as the whole place turned black for a second and after it turned back to normal we were no longer in the hall but outside some dark city and the sky had no stars but it had a moon in the shape of a heart. Anyway it happened soon after that as Zane was still there but one of them slashed him in his torso and he fell down on his back as blood was dripping from his mouth and he looked at me until his eyes finally closed and I guessed that he died, so by then I was furious and I finally had enough strength to stand up and take his sword as I tried to attack them but the black light came back and it knocked me unconscious, by the time I woke up I was no longer in the same world but I was here." Ziad finally put his picture back in his wallet as he looked at Sora whose mouth was now wide open

"Whoa! I didn't know all that happened."

"And when King Mickey told me that Zane was in Hollow Bastion and alive I wanted to come with you, if you don't mind?"

"No ofcourse I don't mind!"

"Okay let's go then!" Mickey, Donald and Goofy went inside the gummi ship and then Sora also went inside except for Ziad he was searching in a drawer until he found the thing that he was looking for, A handgun that didn't have to be reloaded no matter how many bullets you shoot and he put it in his holster and hopped inside the gummi ship and they left...

Somewhere else in space Cid, Yuffie, Riku and Zane were flying aimlessly without any world in sight...

"Man this is gonna drive me crazy!" Cid shouted since he felt helpless

"What are we supposed to do?" Riku wondered as all of them were getting worked up except Zane he was thinking about something "What's wrong Zane?" but he didn't respond.

"Huh? Zane?" Yuffie looked at Zane but it was like he didn't see them

Then suddenly he turned and looked at them with hope in his eyes "Cid! Try to go east." They all shocked at his sudden voice

"What? Why east?" Cid asked confused

"There is supposed to be a world there." Zane said while looking a bit confused

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"It's just now coming back to me…" Zane said as he remembered the small metal stuff that was floating outside in space

Yuffie now regaining her senses started to talk "How do you know that we have to go east now?"

"Because I have been here before… A long time ago."

"Huh? When was that?" Riku now asked

"Before you and I met, I went with Ansem here and we went to a world where we had to find some rare resources or something… I don't remember exactly but we took them and as we left in his airship, he had one at that time by the way. But it is destroyed now and I remember that there were small metal objects flying nearby around that place, and what I can see this place also has small metal objects."

"Okay East we go!" Cid said as he turned his wheel

"Zane how many missions did you go with Ansem?" Riku asked since he was curious as to how long he was with Ansem

"Well about fifteen if I didn't forget any."

"Fifteen! Why did you go with him on all those missions?"

"I owe him." Zane said softly

"Yeah but not to that extent." Yuffie said as Riku now felt left out

"Huh? Yuffie you knew?" Riku asked

"Not about fifteen missions no, he only told me about the first one."

"Zane can I ask you why you were with Ansem all this time and how did you meet."

"The reason is because he saved my life in a world far away when I was attacked by some people most likely Organization XIII he saved me but I believe they took my friend Ziad away, since that time I have been doing missions for Ansem and those missions were connected with my friend somehow so I went on most of them, until you came he stopped all his missions and he changed and said that we have to do things another way, and that was when he gave you the mission to take Roxas and I had to help you if things got rough. It was like he changed after he learned about Sora and the Keyblade, he didn't care about my friend anymore and wanted me to serve him only, at that time I thought that working with you will be my last mission and then I would leave and search for my friend myself, but now I am no longer doing any missions for him and I help you now on my own free will, but after I help you I will search for my friend.

"Fine I understand."

"You didn't tell me that last part!" Yuffie said as she wanted to know everything about him for some reason

"Sorry I forgot at that time."

"Hey guys! I know that you are a bit depressed but cheer up because there is one hell of a world there!" Cid said shouting from joy and pointed his finger to a world that looked like a grassland and a few houses. "Okay we are going to land!" They landed slowly on the grasslands.

"Okay we are on the ground! We could get to a village if we walk for a while north."

"But I must say that we can't fly for a while because this baby here is steamed from flying." Cid said

"For how long?" Zane asked

"Well for at least three days."

"Now that's long!" Yuffie now said

"Okay time to get going then, tomorrow I will make the missile program but today is a free day!" Cid said as they all took their weapons and they went outside on the grassland, the grass was pretty long and they knew that they could be ambushed easily

"Well we better take care around here because the monsters in this part are very nasty… That's if I remember correctly." Zane said as he tried to make a joke but nobody laughed

"Monsters? Not Heartless?" Riku asked to make sure

"This is one of the only worlds which don't have heartless, kind of strange though because the people around here are not that very kind… At least the last time I was here they weren't."

"You mean that they will try to kill us?" Yuffie asked concerned

"Not to that extent also Yuffie." Zane said sarcastic

So they walked for a while but suddenly they heard something move in the grass...

"Did you hear that?" Cid asked

"Yeah I heard it." Riku said as he kept his hand with his Keyblade

Suddenly a monster with sharp long teeth and the body of a human but claws instead of hands and a face of a tiger appeared and headed towards them...

Zane was the first one to see it and he took his sword and he slashed at it's head and it fell off.

Then suddenly three more came.

"Ambush!" Zane shouted as Cid and the others also took their weapons this time the monsters taking the initiative the first one hit Cid in his chest falling hard to the ground but Cid stood up nearly as fast as he fell and he lunged his spear inside the monster's torso and it fell down, while Riku this time fought with his Keyblade and blocking all the monster's attacks and struck his Keyblade in the monster's heart

While Yuffie threw her shuriken towards the last monster and luckily it hit it's legs and it fell down hard and Zane struck his blade in the fallen monster's chest.

"Is everyone okay?" Zane asked when all the monsters were down and they nodded "Okay we better move quickly before their families come."

So instead of walking they ran now towards the village and within five minutes they were inside the village's gates, the people there looked strange to them like a monster just stepped on their holy ground...

"Well I guess we made it to the village, I just hope that the villagers won't turn on us." Cid said feeling paranoid

"Well we will never know until it happens." Zane said as they all went to an house which had the signboard of INN in the far end of the village, they saw inside a bartender as the usual and a few chairs and tables and a stairs to the next floor probably for the beds.

Cid quickly sat down and everyone sat next to him...

"Do you have beer?" Cid asked the bartender

"Beer? No we only serve Carpatante." He said feeling a bit annoyed at their presence

"Carpatante? What's that?"

"It's a strong drink from the plant Carpatrius."

"Strong? Does it have alcohol?"

"No it is good for your body though."

"No alcohol huh? Okay I guess I could stop drinking beer and drink this Carpa- whatever, bartender give me one!" Cid said while the bartender came a minute later with a big glass of drink

Cid quickly drank a small sip and he looked shocked...

"Hey Cid are you okay?" Zane asked as he was surprised at how Cid looked but he didn't reply

"Oh don't worry about him he always does like that when the taste is good, Bartender give me also one please." Yuffie said

"Sure, what about you two?" The bartender asked while he looked at both Zane and Riku

"Yeah give us also." Riku said and he brought three more glasses of Carpatante

They all drank from this Carpatante and they found the taste completely smooth and luckily it wouldn't make them drunk...

"WOW! This is great drink bartender." Zane said

"Thanks, just don't drink too much otherwise you won't be able to sleep anymore."

Finally Cid started to speak again.

"How much does one of these cost?" Cid asked

"Thirty munny." The bartender replied

"Only!"

"Yeah."

"Okay do you have some food on the menu?" Cid asked since he was getting hungry

"Yeah we have roasted beef forty munny and we have our special Cartronia beef for sixty munny, what will it be?"

"I have got munny so give me the special, what about you three?" Cid asked as he looked at his companions

"I will take the same." Riku said

"I will take roast beef." Zane said since he didn't trust the other meat

"I will take the same as Zane." Yuffie said pointing to Zane because the bartender didn't know who that was

"Okay within a half hour it will be finished you can sit on the chairs by the table."

So they all moved with their drinks to a table near the stairs.

"Man this drink is good; I can stop drinking beer with this." Cid said as he liked it a lot more than beer

"Great I guess we will have to take some with us before we go then." Zane said and Cid immediately agreed

"By the way Cid what happened to the Highwind?" Yuffie asked since he never told them what happened

"The Highwind? Well after the fight with Sephiroth it got destroyed by the lifestream, I tried to fix it but I couldn't it was beyond repair, so I just left it and made Sierra."

"How old are you Cid?" Riku asked suddenly which shocked Cid

"Me or Yuffie? Well Yuffie is sixteen." Cid said avoiding the question

"Ah come on Cid answer the question." Zane now said

"Allright I am thirty-two."

"Really?" Zane asked surprised

"Yeah, don't tell me that I look older." Cid said as he didn't like to be old

"No in fact I was going to say that you look younger." Zane said as Cid was surprised by that

"My thoughts exactly I thought you were twenty-six or something." Riku said

"Thanks guys."

"How old are you Riku?" Yuffie then asked

"Sixteen and you Zane?"

"Huh? You are friends but you didn't even know how old he was?" Yuffie asked surprised

"Am seventeen, guess it's three teens against one thirty-two."

"Yeah well at least you aren't acting your age, you act more grownup then most." Cid said

"Wow! The first time Cid makes a compliment." Yuffie said sarcastically

"Really? I guess we must be grateful then." Zane said jokingly

"No no no! If you go on like this I will change my mind." Cid said while he finished his drink

"Okay let's stop and change the subject, Do you have anyone in your mind Cid?" Riku asked as Cid looked back at him with wide eyes

"Huh? What do you mean?" Cid asked as he was trying to look confused

"Well You know someone."

"I used to… But that didn't really work out."

Then suddenly a beautiful woman came inside and sat at the bar, Cid watched her the whole way.

"There it starts!" Riku said as he saw how Cid was looking at her

"Yo! Cid." Zane said while waving his hands in front of his eyes but he didn't respond as he was looking at the woman in disbelief.

"Hey Cid! Wake up!" Yuffie said and hit his head and he turned to look at them as he didn't know what was wrong

"What!"

They all started to laugh and Cid looked at them not understanding why they were laughing...

"What's so funny?" Cid asked since he didn't know why they were laughing

"You Cid, I guess you have not even one in your mind but surely a few." Zane said still laughing

"Nah! I have none... Yet."

"You see that is what I am talking about." Riku said as he also couldn't stop laughing

"Ah! Come on I am just looking, there is no harm in that."

Then the bartender came and gave them their food "Anything else?"

"Yeah, who is the pretty lady?" Cid asked while he looked at the woman

"Oh she is Latty she comes here often, but she is married." The bartender said as he knew what Cid was thinking

"Damn! Oh well do you have rooms for rent?"

"Yeah how many do you want?"

"Give us three."

"Okay, here you go." The bartender gave Cid a few keys and left.

"Hmmm... Key no.13 this is for you Zane and Riku, Key no.14 is for you Yuffie and this one is mine." Cid gave them their room keys and they started eating

"Wow! Great taste!" Cid said as he was surprised that everything tasted good in this world

"Yeah it sure is." Riku said as he agreed with Cid

"Well as always Roasted beef is nice." Zane said and Yuffie agreed with him as well

They all quickly finished their food and they began to feel sleepy...

"Man this food makes me real sleepy! Bartender Check!" Cid said as the Bartender nodded and a few minutes later he came with the check

"Three-hundred and twenty munny okay here you go." Cid took a two heavy looking pouches to the bartender and stood up and left

"G-Night!" Cid said while he went up the stairs

"Good Night Cid, I guess I will go to bed as well." Zane said as Yuffie and Riku both nodded and they went to their rooms and fell quickly asleep.

The next morning came quickly when Riku woke up he found out that Cid was not in his room, so he went down to the bar and found Cid drinking

"Good morning early head." Riku said as he sat beside Cid

"Good morning Sleepy-head." Cid said with a smile

"What time is it?"

"It's 9 o'clock, I was awake since 6." Cid said while he finished his glass and he requested another one

"You were drinking all this time?" Riku asked

"Nah! I was first busy making the missile program on Sierra but I finished before I knew it, So I came back and started to drink, want some?"

"Yeah sure it will wake me up at least." Riku said since he still felt sleepy

"Karel another one over here!"

"Okay be right there!" The bartender said as he was busy making another glass

"He is such a kind guy I talked with him a bit and it seems like some people here are causing trouble in this world."

"What kind of people?" Riku asked as the bartender came and gave a glass of Carpatante to Riku

"Well I will tell you when the rest comes down because I don't like to repeat myself." Cid said while Karel refilled his glass

By that time Zane woke up and found out that Riku left so he went outside his room and knocked on Yuffie's door but there was no reply, he started to worry so he knocked again but a bit harder this time, but also no reply so he thought then that maybe she was in the shower or something even though he didn't hear it. So he was planning on leaving until he heard a glass break then with all his strength he smashed the door open and saw Yuffie on her knees and someone was strangling her from behind, it was a man in a black cloak.

"Yuffie!" Zane ran quickly towards Yuffie and he kicked the man in his face and fell down but he stood up taking a knife this time out of his pocket

"Yuffie you okay?" Zane asked as she coughed a little and nodded

After he was sure she was okay he fought the man in black, the man blocked most of his kicks and punches so Zane threw one big punch at him but the man was too fast and he held his hand and kicked Zane twice in his torso and then threw a punch right at his face and Zane fell down, he checked his face and found blood coming so he stood up getting real angry he quickly gave the man a kick in his torso and then a punch to his chest and he fell out of the window, Zane looked out of the window and saw that he was dead.

"What happened Yuffie?"

"When I awoke I saw this man in my room I tried to get out of the room but he was too quick and he wanted to kill me." Yuffie said as she began to cry

"There's no need to cry I will always be here for you though." Zane took Yuffie in his arms and tried to make her feel better

"Thanks Zane, I don't know what would have happened if you weren't here for me, I would have probably been dead." Yuffie said as she was still crying

Suddenly Cid and Riku came running to the door with a look of fear on their face...

Cid was the first one to speak after he saw that the window was broken and that Yuffie was crying in Zane's arms who had blood all over his face. "What happened?"

"A man in a black coat tried to kill Yuffie."

"The organization? But why would they want to kill Yuffie?" Riku asked since he didn't know the answer

"They probably knew that we are after them." Zane said

"That doesn't mean that they should take the initiative." Riku said angrily as he wasn't expecting them to attack first

"Well I will wash my face and come back, okay Yuffie?" Zane asked Yuffie and he was about to let her go but she held his shirt tight

"No stay with me, please." Yuffie asked as she looked at Zane with teary eyes

"I will stay with you but I will just wash my face and come right back."

"Okay." So Zane went to the bathroom and washed his face and after he finished he saw that he had a cut in his face above his eyebrow, he knew that he was lucky that the man didn't take his eye out, he was thinking of taking a shower to feel fresh again but knew that this wasn't the time so he dried his face with a towel and went back to Yuffie who was still on the ground sobbing but only a little bit less now

"Come on Yuffie, go wash your face we will be waiting right here." Zane said and Yuffie just nodded and went to the bathroom to wash her face

"Why do you think they took Yuffie? Why didn't they try to kill you or me?" Cid asked pissed off

"They probably thought that Yuffie was an easier target as she was sleeping alone." Riku said as he knew that a person alone is easier than two

"I guess she can't be alone then anymore." Zane said as he checked out the window again to see if the man was still there, and he was as there were some glass pieces in him

"Okay I have an idea as long as we are here you are going to stay with Yuffie okay Zane?" Cid said

"Why me? Why not you?" Zane asked curious

"Because she trusts you more."

"But you are stronger than me."

"That doesn't matter; she has to feel safe y'know?"

"Cid does have a point there you know?" Riku said as he agreed with Cid

Once Yuffie came back she got a bit more refreshed and she stopped crying however her eyes were still wet

"Are you okay now Yuffie?" Zane asked and Yuffie nodded

"Zane is going to sleep here with you next time okay?" Cid said as Yuffie's face directly brightened up

"Really? Thanks." Yuffie said and she gave Zane a hug, Zane was surprised at the sudden movement, not knowing what to do he hugged her back

"Okay anyway Cid has some news." Riku said while Yuffie now broke off the hug and sat down on the bed as Zane took a nearby chair

"I talked to the bartender and he said that some people are causing big trouble like killing and stealing in this world and it seems like they are killing all the strong people, he thinks that they want to take over this world."

"Really? Do you think that the Organization is after worlds also now?" Riku asked as he was kind of surprised

"No it isn't the world that they want but it's the hearts of the people that he wants, and like Cid said they killed only the strong people that means stronger hearts." Zane said as Yuffie then got confused

"But I am not that strong." Yuffie said since she knew her strength was limited

"Well she does have a point there." Cid said

"So what are we going to do?" Riku asked

"I don't know, Cid is the leader." Zane said since he never liked to be much of a leader

"For as long as I could remember I thought that you were the leader." Cid said as Zane usually acted like a leader

"Me? No way I am no leader, you are!"

"Fine I will be the leader."

"So what are we going to do leader?" Yuffie said finally smiling again

"Okay we are going to hunt these people down and then we will get the hell out of here!" Cid said

"Fine by me." Zane said while the rest agreed

So they went downstairs and Cid gave the bartender some munny and said something to him and then they left out in the grassland again, they were moving quickly and somehow Cid knew where to go.

"Okay we move a little bit more North and we will get to their hideout."

"How do you know?" Riku asked curiously as he knew that Cid was never here before

"Well I took some information from the bartender and he said that they were in a ruin just this way." Cid said with a smirk

So they went a bit more North until they came to a ruin which looked deserted

"Are you sure that they were here?" Zane asked since it looked completely abandoned

"That's what he said yeah." They all looked around a bit but they didn't find anyone

"Something is fishy!" Yuffie said as she didn't trust this place

"Yeah tell me about it." Zane said agreeing with her

"This is a perfect place for an ambush don't you think?" Yuffie said while they looked around and saw a lot of tall grass and the ruin had a few openings on top where enemies could be lurking

Suddenly they heard a scream from inside and they followed it all the way to a room where there was a woman with ropes around her and some people in black were about to kill the woman


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: A little Reunion

In the meantime Sora and the others were back in Hollow Bastion...

"Hello! Somebody here?" Sora went inside the house and found Cloud lying on the sofa with blood on his face and he saw Tifa sitting beside him and Merlin was asleep with Marlene in his arms

"Hi Sora." Cloud said as he sat up now and began cleaning his face with a small towel

"Where is everyone?" Sora asked as he hardly saw anyone

The others also came inside now...

"You mean Cid, Zane, Riku and Yuffie?" Cloud asked

"Yeah I brought a friend from Zane."

"I am so sorry but he hasn't returned yet, they left after a day that you left and we haven't heard from him since."

"Is he really alive?" Ziad asked as Cloud and the others were pretty much confused

"Last I saw him, he was doing pretty well I must say."

"Anyway why don't you wait till Leon comes and then we will call Cid okay?" Cloud said and they agreed

"Okay we need some rest anyway." The king said as he Donald and Goofy left and the only ones left were Sora, Ziad, Cloud, Tifa and Marlene sleeping with Merlin.

Then Leon and Rhinoa came inside and they were surprised to see Sora and this boy "Well what a nice surprise, and I see that you brought a new friend."

"Heya Leon."

"So who is he?" Leon asked curiously since he never liked strangers much

"Oh this is Ziad, he is Zane's friend." Sora said pointing to Ziad who was feeling a bit uncomfortable with all the questions

"Well friends are always welcome."

"Let's see if we can contact Cid." Cloud said as he went to the computer and began typing

Back in the ruin...

"You let her go right now!" Cid shouted when he saw one of the men in cloaks getting near a woman who was chained to the wall

The black man was about to strike the woman but Cid threw his spear right to his chest and he fell down but there were still two left and they had guns

They started shooting and Zane lunged a quick slash at one of them and he fell down dead, while the other one was shooting towards Zane, Yuffie threw her Shuriken right at the man's face making a huge scar, and Riku tried to kill him but he disappeared in a black smoke..

"Yeah run away chickens!" Cid shouted and he took his spear out from the man that tried to kill the woman

"Riku free the woman will ya." Cid said while he looked around a little to see if there weren't any enemies hiding since it seemed to go a little too easy

Riku had freed the woman but she dropped down as soon as he released the ropes and he could see that she was already dead before they came "Something's not right, this woman is already dead!" Riku shouted as he suddenly heard a ticking sound so he looked where it came from and he saw a metal tube with some kind of liquid inside and it had a timer on it and there were only seven seconds left "It's a Bomb! Get out!" Riku shouted as he ran away

"Hurry Cid!" Zane now shouted since Cid still wasn't moving but he quickly regained his senses and they all ran very quickly as they heard an explosion from behind them but they all made it out just in time before the whole place collapsed

"Stop! What are you doing on our world!" A man in a black cloak shouted behind them as he had around ten villagers beside him including the bartender

"Karel, what's going on?" Cid asked confused as the bartender shook his head

"I'm sorry but our chief told us that your friend there is one of the murderers." The bartender said and pointed to Zane who now looked very confused

"I am not a murderer! I have come here before only for a special resource that can only be found here." Zane said in his defense but then the villagers for some reason became angrier

"You said it yourself! You killed our Liana!" One of the women said angrily

"That resource was the only thing that kept Liana alive and you stole it! Whether you knew it or not doesn't matter, you are the one who killed her and for that you have to pay." The man in the cloak said while he pointed his gun at Zane

"Wait wait wait, let's work something out here." Cid said as he stood in front of Zane to protect him

"The time for talk is over, get out of the way we have no need for innocent blood to be shed."

"Zane on my signal you run all the way back to the airship, we will meet you there." Cid said softly to Zane and he nodded

Cid walked slowly towards the chief so as not to look too suspicious "Come on let's work something out shall we?" Cid said since he was now pretty much in front of the chief as the chief shook his head which Cid expected so Cid held his left arm behind him and signaled Zane to start running

"Meet you at the airship guys." Zane said to the others and he quickly ran away

The chief saw Zane running and wanted to chase after Zane but Cid quickly took his gun from him and held it against his head "You will let my friend go."

"You will regret doing this, your friend must have known that Liana would die if he took it because she was right there beside it and the only way he could have taken it was if he cut it off from her which he did. You probably don't know him good enough." The chief said angrily

"I might not know him for long but he hasn't done any wrong thing until now, so I will choose to believe in him." Cid said while he slowly walked away with both Riku and Yuffie beside him

"You better watch your backs from now on! Because if he knows that you know the truth you won't be safe anymore!" The Chief shouted as they all went quickly back to the airship

"What was that all about?" Yuffie asked but Cid just shook his head

"It's nothing that you need to know." Cid said while he was getting a little suspicious now of Zane

Once they got back to the airship Zane was waiting beside the door "Let's get going!" Cid said while he opened the door and they all went inside to the bridge area and they took off "And we're outta here!"

"Now that was surprising, I must say that I never expected that." Zane said as he sat on the couch wondering if he really did do what they said

"Zane I must ask, did you take the resource or not?" Cid asked him as Zane looked back at him, and for a second Cid saw a grin on Zane's face which quickly disappeared

"I honestly can't remember… I came there with Ansem but I don't remember the time when I took the blue shining stone except that I was running from the villagers afterwards and then left with Ansem." Zane replied since he honestly didn't remember but suddenly a memory flashed before him as he saw himself cutting some blue stone which was connected to a young girl who looked up at him weakly with tears in her eyes "Why do you do this?" She asked him as the tears ran down her cheeks

"I am sorry Liana, but this is the only way." He saw himself putting some kind of orange stone beside her and he ran out of the cave where the young girl was and then it all went black again and he came back to his senses as he saw both Riku and Yuffie chatting together and Cid was busy on the computer

"Hey guys we got a message from Cloud!" Cid said and everyone came to Cid and looked at the computer screen as they saw Cloud on the screen

"Hey everyone, I was wondering if you were all fine since we had no contact for some time… I have some news for Zane, your friend Ziad is here looking for you. Just thought that you would want to know, so come back soon." Afterwards the screen went black and it returned to the explorer

"I guess that means we're going back for now then." Riku said and everyone else agreed

"Yeah that's how it looks like. And it seems like we are in luck as I upgraded my radar and installed Hollow Bastion's location in it, and surprisingly it's not far from here. So we should reach it sooner than expected!"

A few hours later in Hollow Bastion...

"Come on Sora!" The king said as he signaled Sora to come to the airship "We can't stay around here the whole time while Kairi needs help."

"I guess you are right, and Riku will most likely be okay." Sora said since he knew that Riku would survive "I am sorry guys but I have to look for Kairi." Sora said to the others

"Don't worry we will call you on the gummi ship when he comes back." Cloud said

So they went in their gummi ship and left to search for Kairi...

"I guess I will be waiting here for a while." Ziad said as he took a seat on the couch

"Yeah and I think you could tell us about yourself and we will talk also about ourselves."

"Okay it all started two years ago..." Ziad said as he began explaining

Back in space Cid and the other were nearing Hollow Bastion...

Zane was feeling uneasy as it felt like something was attacking his brain and suddenly he felt nauseous so he went to the bathroom and he went over by the sink but he no longer felt nauseous except a sharp pain in his head replaced it and as he looked in the mirror he saw something unexpected

The person looking back at him wasn't him… It was black figure which had the exact same shape as him except that it was all black and especially it's red eyes bothered him as he remembered it when Yen Sid gave him the power of light, he also saw that exact same figure.

It was a heartless the same one which was beside him smiling creepily as if taunting him until it spoke "Boo, you didn't really think you were rid of me now did you?"

Zane was shocked at what was happening that he didn't know what to do but luckily for him the heartless disappeared not long after that but his laughter echoed in his head until he rushed out of the bathroom, then it all stopped but Yuffie was looking confused at him as he was sweating uncontrollably but he had no intention of going back into the bathroom

"Are you okay Zane?" Yuffie asked while Zane quickly nodded

"Yeah… I'm fine, I'm just gonna go lay down for a little." Zane left as Yuffie was still confused so she looked inside the bathroom but there was nothing special there so all she could do was ignore it for now

After a half hour Cid called them through the speakers that were put throughout the airship "Yuffie, Zane come quickly to the bridge!"

Zane woke up and he quickly got out of bed but a little too quick as he got dizzy but it was over quick enough and he ran out of the room and he saw Yuffie who was coming to get him "Ah, you're already awake? It seems Cid wants us." She said as they both ran together to the bridge and they saw Cid looking shocked as Riku stood beside him expressionless

"It's Hollow Bastion." Riku said while both Yuffie and Zane looked confused

"What about it?" Zane asked as he was getting worried now

"It's gone!" Cid exclaimed

"What do you mean? Maybe we are just in the wrong place." Zane said while he checked Cid's radar and he saw that it was supposed to be there

"No I marked it on my radar and it says that it should be here."

Zane checked outside the glass to see if there was any world that he could see, but suddenly he remembered that they went in a warp gate so that must mean that they will have to go through it again in order to come back to Hollow Bastion "The Warp Gate! Did we go through the warp gate Cid?"

Cid remembered now that he didn't go through it because he didn't see it "No! Because I didn't see it."

"Then we have to head back!" Yuffie said since she felt a bit relieved now as Cid turned the airship and went back, it took about an hour until they found the warp gate

"I see it! Hold on tight everyone!" Cid shouted while everyone held on to something as they went in the warp gate and they got out pretty fast and they saw a few worlds in front of them and one of them was Hollow Bastion

"Yes we made it back!" Riku said relieved

"Man I thought that it was gone, I am a real FOOL!" Cid said feeling completely embarrassed

"Everyone makes mistakes Cid." Zane said

"Right!" Yuffie replied very quickly

A few minutes later they were close enough to land the airship "Okay we are going to land hold on tight!" Cid said as they landed quickly a little too fast and they almost crashed to the ground "I guess Sierra needs super rest!"

They landed outside the city border as usual because they can't land in the city since there's no space for it.

"Okay everyone out!" Cid ordered and they all listened to Cid and went out of the airship, as they got out Cid closed the door and locked it

"Who are they?" Zane asked as he pointed to a redhead and a bald man in suits, they were waiting for them to come to them

"Reno and Rude?" Cid looked surprised since he wasn't expecting to see them anymore

Reno walked towards them in a fighting stance "What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you that red piece of junk!" Cid cursed as Reno went furious and he came near Cid quickly and hit his arm with his nightstick and then he kicked him in his torso sending him hard against the door of the airship which was made of metal

Zane saw this so he punched Reno right in his face and he fell to the ground and then Rude came to help his buddy, Riku lunged towards Rude with his fists and he punched him in his chest but he didn't react instead he laughed and he pulled Riku up and threw him towards Cid who just stood up

Zane quickly raced towards Reno who already stood up and was ready to hit him but Zane kicked him in his chest and then Rude came and tried punch him with his fist but missed and Zane kicked Rude twice first in the torso then in his face and he destroyed his glasses so he got pissed off He took Zane by his neck and was about to kill him but Yuffie came from behind and kicked his legs and Rude fell hard on the ground, Reno was astonished by the movements that Yuffie made because he knew that she was weak but now he saw her strong so he stopped fighting.

"I guess we will be going now." Reno said after seeing how much stronger they had become as he and Rude quickly ran away and they were nowhere to be seen

"Yeah and get out of here!" Cid said as Zane began coughing now

"Damn! He had to take me by the neck!" Zane was pissed off as the pain had increased

"He was damn strong! Who are they?" Riku asked as he wondered who they were

"It's Reno and Rude they are Turks a part of Shinra's bodyguards."

"Well whoever they are I think it's best to go back to Leon and the others." Riku said and they went quickly towards Merlin's place, until they came inside they saw only Merlin and Marlene there

"Heya Oldie!" Cid said waving to Merlin who got angry

"Damn you Bonehead! What are you doing here?" Merlin said annoyed that he came back alive

"We came because Cloud called us." Yuffie said as Merlin remembered now

"Well you can wait a while since they are rebuilding the village a bit farther ahead."

"Great, I guess I will just relax then." Zane said since he felt tired from the journey

"So we only have to wait until they comes back." Cid said while they waited until the evening and they all came inside Merlin's place including Ziad

"Heya guys!" Cid said as they looked surprised to see them back

"Cid! When did you come?" Cloud asked

"Well since the morning." Cid said a bit annoyed since he was feeling very bored

"Zane! You are alive!" Ziad asked surprised as he didn't really expect him to be alive even though they told him that he was

"I'm alive yes, why shouldn't I be?" Zane asked

"You don't remember?" He asked since he didn't expect him to forget that night and just when he was about to tell him what happened Riku interrupted them

"How about we make a party since we're all back except for Sora?" Riku asked and they pretty much accepted

"We can't leave for atleast a week because Sierra needs some rest before it can fly again. We pushed her a little too far last time. So I agree." Cid said as he thought of the shape his airship was in

They all prepared for the coming party when they found an inn which Tifa found and they cleaned it all up and they took all the necessary things and put it inside so they could have a good evening

Late in the evening everything was set up perfectly and luckily Tifa found some wine and beer hidden inside a closet and they finally started the party with some music playing in the background which started with the song "Eyes on me" which was Leon's favorite song

Most of the men started drinking first while the girls were sharing stories "Man did I miss wine!" Cloud said since he liked the taste very much

"I must say this beer is very tasty." Zane said as he held his mug in front of his face

"You're turning into a man Zane!" Cid said while he hit Zane's back which made him spill most of the beer on the table

"One tiny mistake there Cid, I already am a man!" Zane said laughing since the alcohol seemed to quickly take effect

After a while drinking Zane felt enough so he started to play chess with Leon but Leon was still sober so he played better "Check!"

"Not a big deal…" Zane said as he moved his peon and destroyed his knight

Leon thought for a second and then moved his queen in front of Zane's king and his king was stuck "Checkmate!" Leon said proudly

"What!" Zane couldn't believe that his king lost and they directly started a new game so that Zane could try to win

"I won't lose this time!" He said daring Leon

"We will see!" Leon said knowing that he would win again

A while later Yuffie came beside Zane to cheer him on.

"Come on Zane you can do it!" She cheered him on but it was actually making him play worse than before

While they were playing chess Tifa and Rhinoa were talking about their lovers...

"So Tifa do you like someone?" Rhinoa asked bluntly as Tifa looked a little confused

"Someone like who?" She asked now as she began acting more confused

"Well you know… Cloud?" Rhinoa had noticed how Tifa looked at him and she knew directly that she loved him

"Cloud… He makes me so angry. He just doesn't get it that I love him." Tifa said since she was pretty angry that he couldn't see it by himself

"Well tell him that you love him."

"No, he might not love me and then I won't be able to look in his eyes anymore. And I'm happy how I am now anyway."

"I guess I am the only lucky one here then, Because Squall loves me." Rhinoa said as she tried to change Tifa's mind

"I guess I could give Cloud some hints." She said in a "matter of fact" way

On the sofa Ziad and Riku were talking about their weapons and powers...

"You know the handgun is one of the best weapons I should say." Ziad said since he felt that if he only had his handgun anywhere he would be safe

"No the Keyblade is better a hand to hand battle is much more difficult to miss."

"You don't understand, if you need backup for example an enemy comes from behind you, I could easily shoot it from a distance and help you instead of running towards you and help you, and then it might be too late."

"Not exactly if you have some special powers then you can also attack from distance." Riku said as he knew that the power of darkness was very useful and he didn't regret taking that power

"Well I also have the power of darkness if that's what you mean. But I prefer not to use it unless the situation truly demands it." Ziad said as Riku was pretty much surprised

Merlin was sleeping on the bed while Cloud and Cid were hand wrestling on the table and Marlene was watching and cheering Cloud on.

"First a drink and then we start." Cloud said while he readied his hand on the table

"Fine by me!" Cid said as they both drank a bit from their mugs and then they put their hands together and started wrestling with their hands.

"Go Daddy Cloud go!" Marlene shouted in Cloud's ear as he began to lose his concentration and a second later Cid pushed his arm all the way down

"Ha! I guess you got weaker kid!" Cid said proud of winning

"I am no kid, now again!" Cloud said while Marlene was quiet this time and soon thereafter Cloud won "You see old man!"

"Cloud! I am not old!" Cid said angrily since he never liked to be called old

"Fine but stop calling me kid then." Cloud said and Cid agreed and they started again

"What I lost again? ... I quit!" Zane said and slammed his king over in frustration

So Zane went to Cid and sat in Cloud's place and Cloud went to play chess with Leon while Zane and Cid were going to hand wrestle.

"I will take you on Cid!" Zane said with confidence

"Come on! You will never win." Cid said as he prepared to wrestle and while they wrestled they were the whole time in the middle and it seemed like no one was going down

"When did you get so strong?" Cid asked surprised as Zane kept steady with Cid

"I can't really remember." Zane said since he too didn't know how he got that strong

Marlene and Yuffie were looking with their eyes so wide open that you would think that they would eventually just pop out "Zane is really strong." Marlene said and eventually he won

"Aah! Damn it!" Cid felt completely embarrassed as he was defeated by someone a lot younger than him

"What's wrong?" Zane asked sarcastically when he saw Cid massaging his arm a little

"Nothing, just you are as strong as an ox!" He said angrily

"Good job Zane." Yuffie said beside him as Zane shocked a little as he didn't notice that she was beside him

"Thanks Yuffie."

Cloud and Leon where playing very silently as Leon moved his peon and took one of Cloud's Towers out "That's number one, one more to go." Leon said excited about winning again

Cloud moved his queen and removed the knight that was guarding Leon's king "Check!"

"What!" Leon quickly removed the Queen from the board with his knight "Goodbye Queen." Leon said relieved

"Not that fast!" Cloud moved his knight in a square near the king and Leon was checkmate "Checkmate! You can't move your king backwards because then my tower will take you out and if you move it to the left or right my knight will mince you." Cloud said as Leon fell back in his chair

"Damn! You are smart."

So when Cid kept on losing to Zane he gave up, but Marlene was making fun of him the whole time "Uncle Cid is weak!"

"You know what Marlene? Take this small stick and annoy Grandpa Merlin okay?" Cid said while he gave Marlene a small stick that was on the floor and she gladly took it and she went to Merlin and began playing with it by tickling with it in Merlin's ear

Merlin began mumbling as he shoved his hand to remove the tickling that was annoying his ear

"Grandpa Merlin is no fun." Marlene said disappointed so she suddenly started to take a hair from Merlin's long beard and pulled it but a bit hard and it came out quickly in her hand and Merlin woke up with a scream and everyone looked at Merlin "That hurts! Stop it Marlene." Merlin nearly shouted as Marlene shocked

"Sorry." She apologized as Merlin gave her a long cold stare before he went back to sleep

They were all having fun like that for a few hours until they finally got tired "Oh well I am getting a little sleepy so I am going to sleep, you coming?" Tifa asked Rhinoa since she could hardly keep her eyes open now

"Yeah let's go!" So Rhinoa and Tifa said good night to Cloud and Leon and then they left

"Man I am getting really tired as well." Zane said yawning as he stood up

"Go to sleep Zane, but remember I will beat you one day!" Cid said challenging as Zane laughed a little

"Yeah I will remember that and I will await your challenge." Zane now was searching for Yuffie when he saw her sitting alone bored on a couch so he went to her "Yuffie I am gonna go home wanna go?"

"It's still early!" Yuffie said while she looked at the clock and it was already three o'clock in the night which surprised her "Wow it's later than I thought!"

"You know, I feel really weird for some reason like the whole world is spinning!" Zane said while he was standing very uneven

"Oh okay then, I guess I will take you home!" Yuffie said as she stood up and took Zane's arm over her neck and waved goodbye to the rest as they left the inn and headed for Merlin's place "You know you are very pretty Yuffie, your face is like a coconut that I wanna eat up." Zane said drunkenly as he stared at Yuffie's face which made her feel a little embarrassed

"You're drunk Zane, better remember what you do tonight coz I will remember every bad word you say to me." Yuffie said when they finally reached Merlin's place and she opened the door and opened the light as she went to the bed "Allright we are at your bed Zane." Yuffie put Zane down and he dropped on the bed but he took her with him as he held her tight in his arms "Hey Zane, could you let me go?" Yuffie asked softly while she tried to get herself free but it didn't work and before she knew it Zane was fast asleep "You sure look cute when you sleep."

Yuffie stroked Zane's hair as she giggled a little and before she knew it she became very tired as well and she closed her eyes

In the meantime Cid was getting a bit bored so he went to Ziad and Riku and jumped in the conversation "What are ya talking about?"

"We were just talking about powers and weapons." Ziad said

"Weapons huh? Well I know that if you stick a spear in a monster's chest he won't exist anymore." Cid tried making a joke but it didn't work as both Riku and Ziad looked at him with dull eyes

While they were having fun inside, Reno and Rude were outside looking at them through the window from a distance "See that Rude? They are having fun while we are left outside, doing nothing." Reno said as he felt enough from being serious everyday and he wanted some fun but Rude didn't reply as usual "Hey what's wrong with you?"

"Family." He said softly

:Family? What are you talking about?" Reno asked confused as he never liked his short sentences

"I miss my family." He finally said and he put on his sunglasses even though it was dark

"You miss your family, Well I wish I had a family." Reno said as he began thinking of how nice it would have been to have a family

"I don't have anymore, they all died early when Midgar and Costa Del Sol were at war, president Shinra found me and raised me as an Turk." Rude said as he began leaning against a wall opposite of the house where Cid and the others were in

"Yeah I hate that guy and his son as well they both killed our family and then they lie to us and say that they raised us when our families discarded us… I used to believe him but after that a few years I found out that he killed them."

"Yeah." Rude said softly while he kept on looking at the people inside Cid's place

"Oh well let's go home!" Reno finally said since he never liked to dwell on the past much

"We don't have a home." Rude said as he was confused

"You know the empty house were no one lives, which we broke into?" Reno said trying to let Rude remember

"Ah yes I forgot." Rude said a bit embarrassed

"Man! You forget fast!" Reno said as he went back to their so called home and Rude followed him a few minutes later

Once Zane woke up in the morning he nearly had the shock of his life as he saw Yuffie's face right in front of him and he was holding her in his arms which he slowly took away as to not wake her up

It took a little while to finally get his arms back and he slowly sat straight when suddenly Yuffie moved and he quickly looked at what she was doing but she just turned to the other side so he stood up but then he had a very sharp pain in his head coz of all the beer he had last night and then he remembered all the things he said to Yuffie and what he did and he began to feel a little embarrassed

"Ahh I am never getting drunk again." He said to himself but he also smiled a little that Yuffie was so close to him but he quickly shook his head to get rid off the thoughts that came at him and he looked at his watch and saw that it was already ten in the morning so he took his sword from the ground and went outside for a little walk to clear his head

So he walked a bit until he came to Ansem's place and he checked around when he saw that they had gotten the other door open so he went trough it and down the stairs until he came to a place where he hadn't gotten to before, he saw a lot of big tubes and he saw a lot of heartless as well, he kind of cursed himself for coming here to an infested place of heartless, he wanted to run at first but the heartless that looked like big machines were already coming for him.

"You're making way too much noise! Geez it's like my head will explode." He said to himself as the sound the heartless made was very loud for him so he unsheathed his sword and slashed the first one in the head and lunged directly towards the next one cutting it in half, there was one more heartless left and it looked so much like a human that he let his guard down and the human heartless lunged quickly towards him and kicked him hard in the face and Zane spitted blood, so he went quickly to slash his sword but he blocked with his arm as if it was metal!

Zane was confused on how it didn't cut his arm but he went on fighting but the strange heartless blocked all his attacks with his arms and then out of nowhere another one appeared and headed straight towards Zane with an axe in its hand.

"What the Hell!" Zane shocked at the weapon that the heartless had such strong weapons

He ducked just as it was about slash him and instead he slashed the other heartless's head off and he became furious he slashed his axe so quickly that Zane thought that if he doesn't stop soon that he will be cut in pieces, then the heartless kicked Zane in his torso and quickly gave him a punch in his face that send him straight to the wall

The wall destroyed a bit but Zane stood up again a bit more tired and his hangover made it worse but he wasn't planning to die yet he had to many things to do in life so they fought on until a shuriken suddenly hit the heartless's arm and it got cut off, it got pissed and was heading straight to where the attack came from

Zane saw that Yuffie was there so he quickly ran after the heartless but the heartless already had his axe raised up and was about to strike but something stopped him, Zane had struck his sword in his torso and soon afterwards the heartless disappeared in a black smoke

Zane looked quickly towards Yuffie who was standing right in front of him with a look of fear, he didn't understand at first but when he looked around he saw about thirty more heartless coming towards them.

"What the! Yuffie go to Leon and get help!" Zane said but Yuffie was hesitant as she didn't want to leave him alone

"I can't leave you alone!"

"We have no choice, we mustn't let them in and I can't do that by myself I will need some help." Zane said while the heartless were getting nearer

"But you might die." She said now as Zane knew it could happen but he wouldn't allow it

"There's only a slight chance that will happen." He said with a smile

"Okay I will go but you better stay alive coz you will have something coming about what you did last night." Yuffie said and he nodded

"I will accept whatever you want." Zane replied as he saw that she wasn't really very angry about last night which gave him some hope and they stared at eachother for a while until Yuffie finally went back

Yuffie quickly ran back to Leon and the others who were sleeping...

Yuffie just bumped inside knocking the door hard against the wall "WAKE UP!" She shouted as they all woke up from the sound of the door but not from Yuffie's shouting

"What's wrong?" Leon asked while Cid fell on the ground

"Zane needs help, he is at Ansem's lab and a lot of heartless are there!"

"But the door was closed." Leon said as he was still sleepy

"Well when he went there it wasn't." She said sarcastically

"Okay we're coming!" Ziad said as he quickly took his handgun and followed Yuffie out as did the others

They ran quickly to the lab but Zane couldn't hold on much longer as they kept on increasing "Where are they!"

Zane killed a few heartless but instead of those heartless now came nobodies and he saw in the distance a bit Xehanort, he ran quickly towards him slashing any heartless or nobody who was foolish enough to try and kill him

Yuffie was the first one to come inside the lab and she saw Zane running towards a man in a black coat she quickly ran towards him with Leon and the others further behind her

Zane quickly kicked Xehanort but he took his leg and threw him to the ground, Zane stood up this time trying to cut him to pieces he slashed his sword so quickly he first slashed at his head but he block and then he tried in his torso but also he blocked so he finally tried a jump attack but Xehanort was too fast and tried to disappear in a big black smoke which sucked Zane and himself and Yuffie who was nearing Zane and they disappeared...

"Where did they go?" Leon asked since he didn't see them anymore

"The darkness sucked them up!" Riku said as he remembered most of the tricks

"What do we do now?" Ziad asked since there were still some Nobodies left

"Well I could go there to where they went but it's very dangerous and not a lot of people can come with me because the gate closes too quickly." Riku said while Leon was holding off some Nobodies

"Well how many can go with you?" Cloud asked this time

"Four maybe five."

"I am coming!" Ziad said quickly as he wasn't planning on leaving his friend to die

"Me too!" Cid said as well since he cared about Yuffie and he began to think of Zane as his friend

"I will come as well." Cloud said since he actually considered Yuffie a friend and Tifa as well wanted to go but Cloud didn't feel well about that "You can't, Marlene needs you."

"I can take care of her, I like children anyway." Rhinoa said now as Tifa felt relieved

"Thank you Rhinoa."

"No problem, like I said I like children."

"But I must tell you that I can teleport us only to the world where they are at but not the exact location okay?" Riku said and they understood and Riku moved his hand forward and a black mist appeared

"Okay quick!" Riku shouted while they went quickly inside and when they got through they came to a world where there was only a moon in the sky and the place was pretty dark and they were in a forest, but they could see a bit in the distance that on a hill was a castle.

"Okay let's go!" Cloud said as he began ordering them

"Yeah, Cloud back as the leader!" Cid said as he was this time happy that he wasn't the leader

"I never was a leader Cid I just made some decisions and you followed." Cloud said jokingly

"Because we thought of you as the leader."

"Okay I guess I could have been a leader." Cloud said giving in as they went quietly through the forest expecting a lot of ambushes

However Zane and Yuffie found themselves in a cell when they woke up.

"Ah! Where are we?" Zane asked as he felt his head hurt

"I don't know." Yuffie replied since it was pretty dark there

Suddenly somebody spoke to them from the back of the cell...

"So they caught you too Yuffie?" A girl asked from a cell beside them

"Huh? Who are you?" Yuffie asked as she remembered the voice but wasn't sure it was her

"You forgot who I am?" The girl asked surprised

"Kairi?" Yuffie said since she expected it to be her

"Yes, they caught me and Selphie, but Selphie is a bit sick now so she is sleeping in the corner." Kari said as she looked over at Selphie who was still in the corner as she looked very pale

"You are Kairi? We have been searching for you." Zane said since he remembered her name

"Who are you?" Kairi asked as she never heard his voice before

"Oh I am sorry, I am Zane I was with Riku doing some missions and my last mission was to find you."

"Mission?" Kairi asked confused

"Yeah for someone and Riku was with me too." Zane said while he stood up and went to the wall to hear her better

"What about Sora?"

"He went out to the worlds searching for you." Yuffie said as Kairi sighed, he hadn't given up on her and she was happy for that

Then suddenly a man came and stopped right in front of the cell "Zane you come with me!" He said and he opened the cell as Zane was confused at why they wanted him

"Why?" He asked but he didn't answer and instead he took Zane by his arms and dragged him away as he locked the cell behind him

"Let me go!" Zane shouted as he was being dragged all the way to a room with a chair in the back and there were several people in black cloaks there

"What do you want?" Zane asked when he could finally stand up and then the chair turned around and he saw a man with bandages all over his faces and he remembered the clothes that he was wearing "Ansem?"

"I would prefer if you called me Diz." Ansem said

"Why are you doing this to me? And why are you with the organization?" Zane asked since he thought that Ansem was good

"Ever since Riku came I found out that darkness is the true power of the world, and that if I can get my hands on the darkness then I can finally have all the hearts in the world to examine but you were going to take all that away… And that I can't handle, I will not be killed by someone like you."

"What? I didn't do anything except do what you asked." Zane said while he tried to prove that he didn't do anything but that didn't seem to help since Ansem was as stubborn as always

"I saw you several times with that redheaded girl trying to get all the information out of me before you would kill me so before that happens I will kill you before you have the chance."

"Why would I ever kill you?" Zane asked as he never had any intention of doing so and who was that redheaded girl that Ansem was talking about

Ansem didn't answer instead he nodded at the man behind Zane and he started to beat Zane up, first he punched him hard in the back then he tried to kick him but Zane blocked his kick and he took his foot and fell down, after that he began using the power of light as small bursts of light shot from his hand towards the men in cloaks.

It wasn't long before most of them were down and Zane was getting tired from using his power a lot and then out of nowhere came more men in cloaks and one of them kicked him in his back as he fell down and soon thereafter the rest began to kick him as well until he started bleeding all over

"Okay that's enough!" Ansem said and they all immediately stopped and Zane stood up again furious as blood was dripping all over his face

"I won't let you kill me!" Zane said angrily as he tried to stand balanced

"But who said that I would kill you already? I want to let you suffer!" Ansem said and Zane Lunged his fist right to Ansem's face making him bleed from his mouth

Ansem checked his mouth and saw that it was bleeding he got angry and punched Zane in his chest with a powerful fist and Zane flew back against the wall making huge cracks

"Damn you!" Zane tried to stand up again but this time he couldn't

"Take him back to his cell, I want him alive for quite some time." Ansem said as one of the men did what he asked and he took Zane on his shoulder and went back to the cell and threw him inside, Yuffie and Kairi looked both shocked and Yuffie quickly checked on Zane and she saw that he was beaten up and was bleeding all over "Zane what did they do to you?" She asked worried as she saw him shaking

"Ansem… He is their… Leader." Zane said slowly and he passed out afterwards

"Why would Ansem do something like this? He was always doing whatever he asked him to do." Yuffie said confused

"You mean that he was the one that did missions for Ansem?" Kairi asked as she had heard something similar

"Yes, you know about it?" Yuffie asked as Kairi nodded but she couldn't really see that

"Yeah Selphie overheard some of them talking about it." So Kairi went to Selphie who was still in the corner but awake "Won't you tell her what you heard?" Kairi asked Selphie and she nodded and slowly sat up

"I guess I could, I heard some of these guys talking, they were talking about some guy who was working for Ansem and that he was planning to kill him because Ansem had taken something important from him."

Then suddenly in the cell opposite them a man started to speak "So Zane too was caught? He should have been smarter and escaped instead of running into these guys." Yuffie remembered the voice and nearly shouted Barret

"Barret! What are you doing here?" She asked as she never thought that when they would meet again that it would have been in a cell

"Huh? Yuffie you also got caught." It seemed that he was either sleeping before or was unaware of her voice because she had been speaking pretty loud before

"Yeah I was with Zane but tell me what are you doing here?" She asked while she tried to see where his voice was coming from but she couldn't figure it out

"Well I wasn't alone, I was with this cowboy looking for Marlene but suddenly we got attacked and we were sent here." Barret said as he tried to open his cell but it wasn't working out that well

"Cowboy?" Selphie asked curiously

"Yeah he said that his name was Irvine Kinneas or something, but tell me do you know where Marlene is?" Barret asked since he was more worried about Marlene than himself or anyone else

"She is fine, she is with Cloud and Tifa, so where's this cowboy then?" She also wondered what type of person he was now

"I don't know they took him to another cell because he broke the lock and we tried to escape."

"Hey Barret will you shut up! You are giving me a headache with your voice. I want to sleep!" Another person said and she knew that voice as well

"Shut up Reno! Before I give you more good punches!" Barret said as he turned to Reno with his fists ready

"Forget it, he's already sorry." Rude said speaking for Reno

"Reno why are you captured?" Yuffie asked

"Look who it is, Ninja girl got captured by the nobodies as well… Well anyway we were just checking out what was behind the door in Ansem's lab when suddenly this white things appeared and not much later we were captured by them." Reno said while he went to the cell's door and began playing with the lock

Zane finally woke up and started coughing up blood "Damn him!"

"You okay Zane?" Yuffie asked as she saw the blood

"I'll survive if that's what you mean."

"Buddy you shouldn't have left Yuffie's side in the morning!" Reno said sarcastically

"What do you want Reno!" Zane asked him angrily since he wasn't in the mood for any silly talk

"Nothing at all." Reno said smiling

"By the way Zane, Barret is here and some other guy called Irvine is also here."

"Great." He said not really caring if there were more people or not

"Do you want to know why Ansem wants you dead?"

"Glad to hear it!" Zane said while he leaned back against the wall

"He wants you dead because you were planning on killing him because he stole something important from you."

"Well killing him now is certain!" Zane said angrily as he wanted to punch Ansem so hard

After a few hours the same man came back "Zane! Come with me!"

"What now? Can't I have some rest I just got beat-" But before he could finish, the man took him by force but this time Yuffie attacked the man, she jumped on his back and tried to strangle him, but he was too strong and he pushed her back to the wall hard.

"You leave her alone!" Zane got furious and somehow he got back all his energy and kicked the man in his chest and quickly he punched a few times in his face and then he tried to strangle him, but the man easily took him and threw him towards the next cell hard and Zane fell so hard on the floor that there was a small hole in the ground.

"Piece of-" Before he could continue Barret broke free from his cell and attacked the man and gave him a few punches which knocked him out.

"Now you leave them alone!" Barret said as the man disappeared in a black smoke

Yuffie was checking her head and she got up "Thanks Barret."

"No time for niceties, we have to get out of here." Reno said as there were some keys on the floor and he took it while he opened Kairi and Selphie's cell

They all ran quickly but suddenly they stopped because they heard a voice in one of the cells "Irvine?" Barret saw a man handcuffed to the ceiling and he was pretty beaten up

"Barret? So you got free huh?" He said softly as he was in a pretty bad condition

Barret made quick work of the cell door and he took the wounded man in handcuffs and they were about to leave but some men in black coats came and Ansem was between them "Where do you think you are going?"

But Zane saw something strange in them so he took a small rock from the ground and threw it at Ansem and as he expected it went through him "Ha! Let's go it's just an illusion."

"Well then you are terribly mistaken because these guys here are not." Ansem said while he pointed towards the men in cloaks and then disappeared

"Okay, Barret take the others out while I will hold them off!" Zane said

"You know that you will lose right?" He asked

"I'm not planning on losing… Too much stuff to live for." He said as he prepared himself

"Okay we are going!" Barret said but Yuffie didn't move

"No let me stay!"

"Take her away Barret and keep her safe!" Zane said as Barret took her

"Okay we are leaving!" Barret took them away and only Zane and the men in cloaks were left

"Haha! I will take you on!" Zane said while his hand began to shine

Barret and the others were quickly out of the castle and they found their equipment and ran towards some forest where they saw Cloud and the others "Cloud!" Yuffie shouted when she saw him

"It's good to see you Cloud." Barret said as Cloud looked surprised

"Barret what are you doing here?" He asked

"Got captured… Now take this guy for me while I go back to help Zane." Barret had given Irvine to Cloud and was ready to go back

"Where is he?" Tifa asked since she couldn't see him anywhere

"He stayed behind so that we could escape." Reno said as Rude was beside him already

"I am coming with you!" Ziad said immediately

"Count me in!" Cid said as he too wanted to help

"Me too!" Yuffie said wanting to join them but Barret stopped her

"No Yuffie, Zane left you in my hands so I will not let him down by going back and bring you with me." Barret said and Yuffie knew that she had to stay behind "The rest of you go back and leave as we might not be able to come back alive."

"Okay everyone come!" Cloud said as he than remembered that he found Zane's sword and he threw it to Barret before they left

Barret, Ziad and Cid quickly went back while Cloud and the others went back to their place

"Okay I will stay here for if they are coming." Riku said as he wanted to stay behind but Cloud didn't want that

"You can't, you have to come back."

"Why?" Riku asked confused

"Once we come back we will need a lot of help and Kairi needs you by her side now." Cloud said while Riku looked at Kairi and remembered

"Yeah I was supposed to take care of Kairi just like Ansem said."

"Ansem is a bad guy." Kari said suddenly which shocked Riku

"What? How can that be?"

"He is the leader of the organization, he tried to kill Zane." Kairi said as Riku didn't understand

"Why?" He asked but before she could answer Cloud interrupted

"Look we haven't time, we must go!"

"Okay." Riku opened a path and they went through it until they came back in Hollow Bastion were Rhinoa and Leon were waiting

Back at the castle Zane was losing the battle since he was wounded before the fight "Damn it! I can't lose." Zane punched one in his face and tried to kick the other one but the grabbed his leg and threw him to the wall as the man in the cloak began laughing

"You really think that this is funny?" Zane said while he stood up and both his hands began to glow as light fired at them and they fell down but he couldn't use his power more than that and they took out some knives that was hidden within their cloaks

"Can't keep it fair eh?" Zane said as they were just about to strike when a spear went right in one of the guy's chest and it was followed by gunshots.

Zane was relieved when he saw that Cid, Barret and Ziad came to help him "Thanks guys!"

"Don't thank us just yet first we will have to take care of the remaining guy!" Barret threw Zane's sword to Zane and he took it right in his hands

Then the remaining guy started to transform in some kind of monster that had teeth as sharp as blades and a body that was dark red like blood.

Cid quickly took his spear from the dead guy's chest and they went to fight it...

In the meantime Kairi told the whole story about what happened and they were all shocked that Ansem was a bad guy.

"What are you so shocked about? A guy can easily change." Reno said while he relaxed on the couch

"What's taking them so long?" Yuffie wondered as she was pretty worried

Back at the castle...

"This thing is too strong we must leave." Zane said as they all responded quickly and they ran outside but there were more of these monsters coming...

And soon enough they surrounded them "Damn it! Must they be so damn smart?" Cid said angrily

"Okay I have an idea, you hold them off while I open a path." Zane said and they agreed

Barret and the others were fighting while Zane tried his best to open a path but he used most of his power so it came very slowly

"Can't you be a bit faster?" Ziad asked while he shot a few rounds in a monster's head and it died

"Almost!" Zane said as Cid took out some bombs and lit them with his cigarette and threw them to the monsters and they were blown up like fireworks on the ground

"Got it!" Zane nearly shouted while they all went quickly in the portal and finally came out in Hollow bastion at the dam

"Phew that was close." Zane said as he tried to walk but he almost fell down, Ziad quickly helped him and he leaned on his shoulder as they got back to Merlin's, everyone was happy to see that they were back.

"Welcome back!" Cloud said when he saw that they were all alive

"Daddy!" Marlene saw Barret come inside and she ran towards him and he hugged her

"It seems like you are all still in one piece, except for you Zane, you look like you could use some rest." Leon said while he was busy with something on the computer

"Yeah being beaten up by some guys is pretty annoying." Zane said as he still wasn't feeling well

"Zane!" Yuffie shouted as she ran towards him and took him from Ziad's shoulder and he leaned on her shoulder as she went to the bed and she quickly put him inside

"You could have told me before you take me." Zane said as he was surprised at how fast she was

"Then I would surely hear some boring excuse as usual." Yuffie said as she began to understand him

"Could have happened yeah." He said while he climbed in the bed

Yuffie took some water and a small towel and cleaned his face.

"Looks like she a crush on someone." Ziad whispered to Leon

"Yeah it seems like it." He whispered back

"Anyway I am going to check some places out, be back soon!" Cloud said and Tifa followed him outside

"I will go have a walk with Marlene." Barret said happily as he took Marlene on his back and went outside

"I think that I am just going to rest for a while." Irvine said since he was pretty tired as well from what he had gone through so he climbed in a bed beside Zane

"Ziad, Do you mind if you come with me for a sec?" Cid asked him as he agreed and they left as well

"Well I guess I should call Sora and tell him about Kairi and that we are safe." Leon typed on the computer and he put on some headphones since everyone was pretty noisy "Sora! I have great news! Kairi is here with me!"

"Yeah and everyone is safe too, so hurry back!" Leon said over the microphone "But take care, There are more enemies than we know." So Leon finally closed the chat and he took off the headphones

"Finally I will be able to see Sora again." Kairi said as she began imagining his face

"By the way Kairi, who kidnapped you?" Riku asked while he wondered who would want her

"I don't know, it was a red headed man with spikes and a black coat."

"I don't know him." Riku said disappointed since he hoped it was someone he knew

"Well, Rhinoa and I will go somewhere so see you later." Leon and Rhinoa left as well and the only ones left were Kairi, Riku, Zane, Yuffie, Irvine, Merlin and Selphie

Cid had brought Ziad to a garage nearby where two broken cars were "So what do you think you can do with this junk?"

"Well in about two weeks I can make these things up and running again!" Ziad said while he checked the cars out and saw that they didn't need that much work

"Great because we will need to check out some places and I am better in fixing airships than cars." Cid said as he was happy he didn't have to fix it now

"Okay, consider it done!" So Ziad started to work on the cars and Cid went to his airship to see if it needed anything.

After about an hour Riku, Kairi and Selphie went outside and a few minutes later Merlin also went..

"It starts to get boring around here don't you think?" Zane said as he was getting completely bored from laying down the whole day

"Don't think that that excuse will get you out of bed." Yuffie said with big eyes

"I was just saying it that's all." He said while he thought to himself how she knew what he wanted

"Yeah right!" Yuffie said not believing a word of what he said


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: The Darkness lives

The two weeks went by quickly but Sora still didn't make it back as it seemed like he traveled very far so it would take some time.

So one day in the morning Ziad fixed the cars as he drove to Merlin's house and stopped there and began honking to wake everyone up

"What is that sound?" Yuffie wondered still yawning while she was lying on the bed beside Zane as she was playing again with his hair

In the last two weeks they had gotten so close together that they were almost considered boyfriend and girlfriend but no one took the initiative so they were stuck

Then Ziad came inside with an 'I did it' look on his face "All done! The first car is here and the other one is still in the garage but finished."

"Great! That means that we can leave in the afternoon after we are all prepared." Leon said as he was busy on the computer again

"How many can fit inside one car?" Riku asked

"About five!" He answered and Cloud found that fitting

"Okay that means that almost all of us can go!" Cloud said as he looked around

"Okay so who is coming then?" Ziad asked as Leon and Rhinoa stepped forward at first and than Riku spoke for Kairi and Selphie since he knew that they would want to come

"Ofcourse I will go too and I will ask Tifa to come." Cloud said and left to get Tifa

"I'm afraid that I'm not really in the mood for exploring." Zane said as he finally got out of bed and went to the sink to wash his face

"Okay that makes eight of us if you all go, what about you Yuffie?" Ziad asked but Yuffie disagreed

"I will stay behind as well." She replied while she yawned again and closed her eyes

"Okay then I will go to Cid and ask him if he will come with us." Ziad said when suddenly Cid came inside and immediately agreed to go with them

"Okay that's nine, let's start taking everything that we need and we are going to explore some places." Ziad said and they all started taking everything they needed while Leon and Riku asked the others if they would come and they agreed

After a couple of hours the sun was shining brightly as the sky was clear and it seemed like the best time for a little adventure Cid thought as everyone had finally come

"I think that this is everyone." Cloud said while he was waiting by the two cars just outside Merlin's place

"I will drive the first car." Leon said since he always wanted to be the driver

"I will drive the other one." Barret said immediately and got in the second car

"Okay who will go with me East?" Leon asked and Rhinoa immediately stood beside him as she wasn't planning on leaving his side

"Yeah I'll go!" Riku said as both Kairi and Selphie went as well

"Count me in!" Cid said also

"Okay and the rest will go with Barret, that means that Riku, Kairi, Selphie, Rhinoa, Cid and myself will go East and Barret, Cloud, Tifa and Ziad will go West." Leon said

"Okay Merlin if you need anything just call okay?" Leon said as he got in the car

"We won't need anything, so go on get outta here." Merlin said since he was eager for some peace and quiet

"Allright see you!" Leon and the rest of his crew went inside the first car Leon was in the driver's seat and Cid beside him and Riku, Kairi, Selphie and Rhinoa went in the back even though it was pretty crowded they still sat beside eachother, While Barret went inside the second car in the driver's seat and Tifa was beside him and Cloud and Ziad were in the back.

Leon started the car and drove away and Barret did the same and went West while Leon went East.

"I guess we will go through some muddy places and most likely we will get stuck a few times so get ready." So Leon went through a swamp area while Barret came to a place where there was only desert and destroyed buildings on the floor making driving difficult

"Man this road is difficult!" Barret said and began driving slower

While Leon was driving he suddenly slipped and the car went in the swamp he was just lucky enough to be able to backup quick enough and he went on "Man that was close!" He said laughing

"You better watch the road better." Cid said annoyed as he didn't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere

So a few hours later Barret got to a village but the people there were not really people, they were more doglike man like Goofy but these things had razor sharp teeth

"I have feeling that we aren't welcome here." Barret said as they didn't look all too happy to see them and suddenly a doglike man attacked the back window breaking it and tried to get inside.

"The Hell!" Barret backed up and the doglike man fell on the ground but now the others were coming in fast so they went out of the car as they were surrounded and they all took out their weapons, Ziad and Barret were shooting a few that were coming near and fell while Cloud and Tifa held them on the front.

Cloud rushed in slashing a few doglike men but suddenly a claw came from behind and scratched him in his back, he turned around and saw it and quickly slashed its head off and quickly went to Tifa who was surrounded

He slashed the doglike man quicker than he thought he could and they were all dead on the ground and after a few minutes they were all dead.

"Let's get out of here!" So they all got back in the car and Barret started driving off and he could see in the rear mirror that there were more coming so he built up speed until they got out of the village and they continued west.

While Barret and the others were still going west it started to rain and it was getting more difficult for Leon to see and the road was getting more slipper and Leon went slower "This rain came really on the wrong time!" he said when suddenly a tree appeared in front of them and Kairi was the first one to see it

"Look out!" She shouted but the warning came too late and they crashed against the tree knocking them all unconscious

Eight hours had passed and it was still raining hard and Zane and the others were getting worried.

"What's taking them so long?" Zane asked but they all didn't know

"Why don't we just call them?" Irvine asked but both Zane and Yuffie looked at him strangely

"Don't you think that we tried calling them already?" Yuffie asked him sarcastically

"Okay time for us to go!" Zane said as he got off the chair

"Go where? They went with a car remember." Yuffie said while she was eating some cookies that she found

"We can surely find something in the garage!" Zane said as he went outside

"I will go with you!" Irvine quickly said while he got out of his bed and picked up a rifle from the ground

So Yuffie took her Shuriken and came with them and they went to the garage

"Okay there surely is something here!" Zane said when he opened the garage door and opened the light

So they looked around until Irvine found three motorcycles in good condition "Hey look over here!"

"Great, let's go then!" Zane said as he saw the motorcycles and went on one of them

"Umm…I don't know how to ride a motorcycle." Yuffie said feeling embarrassed

"You don't? Umm... Okay you can hop on the back of my bike if you want or you can stay here." He said as Irvine was already on the other motorcycle and was ready to go

"I will hop on the back." Yuffie said and she went quickly on the back of Zane's bike

"Here take this gun Yuffie as you won't be able to swing that Shuriken so easily if we get attacked on the way." Zane said as he gave Yuffie a gun but she didn't take it

"I don't know how to use it!"

"Ah that's a problem, okay you can swing that shuriken but atleast don't take my head off!" So Zane put the handgun back in his holster that he took from the garage

"Okay so which way will you go Kine?" Zane asked Irvine as he looked surprised at him

"Kine?"

"I'm sorry man but I don't really like your name so I give you a nickname, I mean no offence however."

"Nah it's fine! I will go East to Leon!"

"Okay I guess that we will go West then!" Zane said while he took Yuffie's arms and put it around his waist "No need for you to fall of now eh." He said with a smile

"Okay we will ride together until we get to the city border than we go our separate ways okay?" Irvine asked and they agreed

"Fine by me!" Zane said as he started his engine and they began driving out the city

They drove quickly through the city as it was eerily quiet and they drove down some stairs when suddenly for a second Zane saw a small boy in front of him so he turned roughly to the left

Yuffie had let her hands slip as she was about to fall down the stairs when Zane regained his senses and caught her arm just before she fell down "I'm sorry but I thought I saw something in front of me"

Yuffie had landed softly with her feet on the ground as her heart was pounding while Irvine saw what was happening and he quickly caught up to them "Just take better care." Yuffie said a bit angry and she went back on his bike

"Everything Allright here?" Irvine asked while Zane nodded and they continued on but Zane couldn't get the small boy's face out his mind even though he saw him for a second he could remember his face very well as the boy had short black hair and he was wearing a grey sweater with matching trousers and the sweater had a logo of a school on it, he didn't know how he could know all this but he had to shake the thought away for now as they had reached the border of the city and they stopped for a while

"Okay, take care Kine!" Zane said

"Right you too!" Irvine said and sped off in the distance as they went the opposite way

"Are you Allright?" Yuffie asked Zane as he wondered why she was asking

"Ofcourse, I just went a little crazy back in the city for a while that's it."

"Then why are you shaking in your arms?" Yuffie asked since she saw his arms shaking and Zane didn't notice that he was shaking until she told him

"I guess it has been a long time since I was on a motorcycle." Zane said lying as he tried to keep his arms still as they drove on until they got to the same village that Barret and Cloud had come to, so Zane stopped his bike and got off and he looked to the ground for a second and saw tire marks on the ground "They were here." Zane said since he knew tracks better than most people

"How you know?" Yuffie asked confused as she stayed behind him with her shuriken ready since she didn't like the look of the village

"There are tire marks on the ground but something is not right." Zane said while he looked around and also noticed that this village wasn't going to be a peaceful one "Tire marks only come if you suddenly go on high speed so I don't think that we are supposed to be here." Zane was checking the ground to see if it was maybe another car but he got worried more because Yuffie didn't answer him so he turned to look at Yuffie and saw a few doglike man attacking her and one was holding her neck, he rushed towards Yuffie and quickly slashed the doglike man that held Yuffie's neck and then he quickly killed the others.

Yuffie coughed for a few seconds until she got her breath back "They came from the back!"

"Okay let's get out of here, before any more come." Zane said as they both got on the bike and drove away but two doglike men appeared in front of him so he took his handgun from the holster and he shot both of the doglike men in their head "Those were the front." Zane said while he looked in his rear mirror and saw about three more approaching "Yuffie use your shuriken!"

"Okay!" Yuffie shouted when she was about to throw her shuriken when the ground started to shake "What's happening?" Yuffie asked as the doglike men ran away now

"It's an earthquake, hold on tight!" Zane shouted as Yuffie held him firmly as he tried to keep the bike under control but then the earth ripped open beneath them and they fell inside the big black hole that now lay just beside the village

Irvine got to the place where Leon and the others crashed but when he got near they were not inside so he went on until he came to a place where a few abandoned houses were

He got of his bike and went inside with his rifle ready to shoot any sudden attack, he opened a door and went inside and to his surprise he saw Leon and the others there "Leon, you okay?" Irvine asked as he lowered his rifle

"Irvine? What are you doing here?" Leon asked surprised while they all went out of the house now

"We got worried and we came to search for you!"

"We?"

"Yeah Zane and Yuffie went to search for Barret and the others because their mobile didn't work and you don't answer yours." Irvine said

"I lost it on the way here." Leon said a little embarrassed

"How did you get here?" Kairi asked since she knew that he didn't know any magic to teleport

"We found some Motorcycles in the garage and we came." Irvine said when suddenly he wondered something "But why aren't you all leaving?"

"We didn't know which way to go." Cid said as he regretted putting a gps locator on their cars

"Okay, follow me then!" So they followed him outside and they left to the direction where Irvine came from

Somewhere in a long desert...

"It's starting to get really hot here!" Ziad said while he fanned himself with his hands as they were in the middle of a desert and the sun was very sharp

"What can we do? We are in the desert after all!" Cloud said feeling hot but not as much as everyone else

Barret was trying to call someone but the signal didn't come back yet "Damn it! Freaking signal!"

"Can you concentrate on the road?" Tifa asked Barret annoyed while he was most of the time busy with his mobile

"There's no road! And until now the signal didn't come back yet!"

"Give it to me and you drive!" Barret gave his mobile to her and she checked it out and saw that his signal was destroyed

"It's destroyed, I will try my own." Tifa checked her own mobile and she tried calling Yuffie but it said that the number didn't work anymore.

"That's strange, her mobile doesn't work anymore."

"Try Leon!" Ziad said as he opened the window but immediately closed it afterwards as only hot wind came inside

So she dialed Leon but no one picked up "No one answers!"

"That's weird." Cloud said as he didn't know why they wouldn't answer

"Shall we turn back?" Barret asked since he felt enough from the desert and he wanted something cooler

"Yeah, maybe something happened." Once they turned back they drove for a while until they came to a huge hole in the ground, so they got out of the car and checked it out "The road is gone!" Cloud said as he saw only a hole

"An earthquake?" Ziad wondered when he saw the ground having some cracks

Suddenly Tifa's phone started ringing, she picked it up and she was relieved to hear Leon's voice "Where are you guys?" Leon asked

"We were in a desert but we turned back and now we are stuck as the road got destroyed."

"Is Zane and Yuffie with you?"

"Zane and Yuffie? No why?" She asked confused as Ziad looked curiously at her wondering what she was talking about

"They were coming after you."

"After us? But there was an earthquake here and the only thing left is a big hole!" Tifa said and began to understand what happened

"Damn! They must have fallen in then… Anyway you have to find a way to get back because we have problems." Leon said and hung up and she put her mobile back in her pocket and looked at them

"What's wrong?" Cloud asked when he saw her face

"Zane and Yuffie are most likely down in this hole."

"What!" Ziad nearly shouted

"Damn it! It's all my fault I shouldn't have left my mobile unrepaired." Barret said as he felt the blame

"There's nothing we can do about it now, we have to get back." Cloud said as he knew there was nothing they could do now about them and he went back inside the car as the others slowly followed

Once they all got back in the car they drove around the hole and drove quietly back.

An half hour later Leon and the others finally made it back to Merlin's place

"What took you all so long?" Merlin asked angrily since he was a little worried

"We had some problems on the way." Leon said as he sat down on the couch

"Hmmm where are the others?"

"Cloud and the others are coming soon." Leon said as he tried to ignore Merlin but as usual Merlin's curiosity got the better of him.

"What's wrong?"

"We most likely lost both Zane and Yuffie."

Merlin shocked at this news and sat on his chair "Lost? How?"

"It was an earthquake and most likely they fell inside." Riku said while he took a bottle of water from the fridge

"An earthquake? Here? No there is something wrong with that."

"What do you mean?" Selphie this time asked curiously

"I mean that earthquakes don't come here unless someone or something creates it." Merlin said as they all looked at him weirdly when suddenly they heard a car come near and Cloud and the others came inside

"Did they come?" Ziad asked but they shook their heads

"I am thinking of going down that hole and see if they are still alive." Cid said but Merlin quickly disagreed

"There won't be anything there and your airship is too big to get inside."

"He does have a point there Cid." Leon said agreeing with Merlin

"To hell with you all!" Cid shouted and went outside

Somewhere Zane and Yuffie woke up "Where are we?" Zane asked as he looked around and he saw the place was pretty much filled with bones and metal shackles were all over the walls

"I don't know, are we dead?" Yuffie asked since she didn't know if she was dead or not now

"I don't really know, but we did go down the hole." Suddenly they heard some voices in the distance and it kept coming near them

"What is that?" Yuffie asked as she went a little closer to Zane

"I don't know." Zane wanted to get his sword but to his surprise he didn't find it

Suddenly Yuffie felt something touch her hair and she nearly shouted and ran to Zane and held him "What's wrong?" Zane asked her as she was holding him strongly

"Something touched my hair!" So now Zane checked to see if he still had his gun in his holster but also didn't find it and Yuffie lost her shuriken as well, so he walked a bit forward with Yuffie prepared for any attack that may come

"You don't have to hold me so strong Yuffie." Zane said but Yuffie kept on holding him tighter as if she wanted to go inside his flesh

"I am just afraid!" But suddenly something hit Zane's head and he turned around to see what it was and he saw a human with no eyes and it was like a decayed corpse, Yuffie then turned around and she screamed at the monster that she saw and they ran away not seeing where they were going until they fell inside something and suddenly they found themselves in a place where there were a lot of graves and corpses were coming out of the graves as they smelled the fresh smell of humans "What the hell is that!" Zane shouted as they both saw the corpses coming out of their graves but it seemed like the heartless were controlling them since they had shiny yellow eyes and a black smoke came from each of the corpses and they were heading towards them "No, this can't be happening!"

Suddenly a corpse took Yuffie and took her with him but Zane saw it and he quickly kicked it in the head and it fell down releasing Yuffie.

"C'mon Yuffie get up." Zane gave her a hand as she took it and stood up and they ran again until they came to a dead end and the corpses were coming near them.

"What are we supposed to do?" Yuffie asked while she looked at him

"I don't like to die twice!" So Zane put his hand forward pointing to the corpses and after a few seconds a bright light appeared and they quickly went through it but when they got out, they didn't come to hollow Bastion instead they were in some city that was completely destroyed and a lot of dead people were on the floor and huge blood splashes were all over the city and it was night "Where are we?" Yuffie asked as she looked around and then she remembered "This is Midgar!"

"Midgar? It's supposed to be destroyed, how did we get here? I didn't think even about this place." Zane said confused

"Neither did I."

"I guess I will just get us out of here again." Zane tried to use his power but nothing happened. So Zane checked his hand but saw nothing wrong with it so he tried again but also nothing happened "I can't open any path!"

"What now?"

"Well we can't do anything other than to check this place out for an exit." Zane said as they walked for a while when suddenly a monster appeared and it had blood all over its body and had huge claws and teeth.

Zane and Yuffie saw this monster and they quickly ran inside the nearest house and closed the door while they looked through the bloody window and saw that the monster didn't notice them "Phew!"

Suddenly someone spoke to them from inside the room but they couldn't see anything "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" A man said from behind them

"Whoa!" Zane shocked for a second but quickly concentrated "I am Zane and this is Yuffie we are lost or dead, I don't know which one."

"I am Laguna Loire a former journalist." The man now stepped forward revealing his face in the moonlight he had the face of an experienced soldier he had a light blue shirt and black jeans and long black hair

Laguna was ready to shake hands and Zane shook it and it felt cold and yet it felt human "Nice to meet you too, but do you know if we are alive?"

"I still haven't figured out the answer to that question."

"Were you a soldier?" Yuffie asked as she saw his face and she knew a lot of people who were soldiers and he had the same face of a veteran

"Yes I was but now I search for the truth about the darkness."

"How did you come to Midgar?" Yuffie asked since she wondered if he maybe as well had the same experience as them with the earthquake but he avoided the question

"So this place is called Midgar? Hmm well it doesn't really matter as we have to go either way." Laguna said while he went out of the house and they followed him outside and they checked to see if the place was safe and then they went outside and they walked a bit until they found some monsters eating the remains of humans.

"Yuck." Yuffie said as she was disgusted by the way how the monsters were eating the remains

"Shhhhh!" Zane held a hand over Yuffie's mouth as the monsters looked around since they heard Yuffie but they were too obsessed with their food that they returned their attention to the remains

"We must go another way." So they went through some alleys until they came to an abandoned train station

"Do you think that the train still works?" Zane asked Laguna

"Let's just hope that it works." So they went inside the train and Laguna checked the controls and found out that it still worked

"Okay hold on to something!" He shouted as they held something and Laguna pulled the lever and the train started to move and soon it was going fast.

"So do you know where this train will take us?" Zane asked as they were going really fast and then out of nowhere there came a big dark light in front of them and they went through it and after they came out they were driving fast through a desert

"It took us to the next world." Laguna said while both Zane and Yuffie looked surprised around them

"This place is the core of darkness so we can easily change from a world to another by some means of transport."

"I see… But how did you get here?" Yuffie asked again

"I was visiting someone's grave until the whole place got suddenly black and there was an earthquake and then I awoke somewhere and later on I found out that I am in the core of darkness. What about you?"

"Well we were on a motorcycle trying to get to our friends but suddenly there was an earthquake as well and we fell inside and we came to some place where the dead corpses walk until I could get out of there on time and I came here."

"Dead corpses walk?" Laguna didn't like the sound of that and he didn't completely believe it

Suddenly the train screeched to a halt, they arrived at an abandoned train station and as they got out they saw that there was more light but there was also more blood and more corpses.

The place looked like a city without buildings as the stones that were once in the building were now lying all over the ground "This place looks even worse!" Zane said while he stepped over the dead corpses

"Why don't we pass this world and go back inside the train and go to the next one?" Yuffie asked since she didn't like the way how this world looked like

"It won't work anymore. The transport you come in with will stop working once you reach the next world or with the train case once it reaches the target."

"So we have to go through this world?" Yuffie asked unhappily as she didn't like this world at all

"That seems to be the case yes."

"So which way are we going?" Zane asked while he was looking around for a weapon but he didn't find anything useful

"That way!" Laguna was pointing a place where was motorcycles for sale but there was a lot of blood and corpses in front of it.

"Are you sure?" Yuffie asked as that looked like the worst place for her

"We will need some transportation remember?" So they went to the showroom and they got inside, what they saw inside was a few corpses and some blood and two motorcycles.

"You take the other one with Yuffie." Laguna said while he brushed some dust of the motorcycle and started its engine

Zane and Yuffie went quickly on the motorcycle and all three of them quickly drove away leaving nothing but dust behind them.

The next morning came slowly to Leon and the others until they finally fell asleep at around five in the morning but they were immediately woken up by the slamming of a door and both Rude and Reno came inside with smirks on their faces

"They might not be dead." Rude said directly as they all shocked and Ziad even fell almost off his bed but woke up just in time

"What?" Leon asked angrily since he didn't expect either Reno or Rude to care

"It's a hole, and you never know what is in a hole." Rude said as he went over to Cid who was still sleeping and dragged him out of his bed and threw him to the ground as Cid woke up furiously and he was about to punch Rude but Rude held his hand

"What the HELL are you doing?" Cid shouted as he stepped back now and began swearing

"What do you mean you never know what's in a hole?" Leon asked while he ignored Cid's swearing

"He means to say that they could be alive but that they are no longer here." Reno said and then they began to understand

"You mean another world?" Riku asked

"Probably or something worse, The CORE!"

"You mean that they could be in the core of darkness?" Cloud this time asked as he just came inside and Cid stopped swearing

"Yep that's possible." Reno said while leaning against the wall

"Cid! Come over here!" Leon shouted when Cid went to him

"Well I guess we should be going then." Reno said since he felt that his job was done and they both left

"How long will it take to make Sierra fly again?" Leon asked as he had an idea

"It can fly by tomorrow… Why?"

"Tell everyone that I am coming with you tomorrow to look for Zane and Yuffie in the core of darkness." Cid left and he quickly told everyone and as they came back to Merlin's place they saw Sora and the others waiting

"Hey guys I am back!" Sora said happily since he was glad to finally be back

"We have been waiting here for over an hour!" Donald said unhappily

"Sorry we just had some problems." Tifa said

"What kind? Anything that I can handle?" Sora asked since he always wanted to help anyone if they had a problem

"Not that kind you can handle but anyway we found Kairi!" Riku said when suddenly Kairi came inside and rushed towards Sora

"Kairi!" Sora shouted happily and held her tight

"How did you find her?" The king asked curiously

"We were at some castle when Zane and Yuffie got captured and they found Kairi and Selphie there and they escaped

Afterwards we came there and they got out with Kairi, Selphie, Barret and Irvine." Ziad said

"So where are Zane and Yuffie then? I haven't seen them." Sora asked

"That is the problem; they disappeared yesterday in a hole." Leon said

"There was an earthquake and they fell inside." Selphie said explaining it to Sora

"So they are dead?" Sora asked since he knew that was most likely the case

"We don't know, I just heard some information that they might still be alive but in the core of darkness and Cid and some others are going to check that place out tomorrow." Leon said

"Can I ask a personal question Goofy?" Rhinoa asked

"Sure."

"Do you have a tribe that kills people and they have sharp teeth and have claws?" Rhinoa asked him as his face grew sad

"No, it's not my tribe that is the Dogarind tribe they kill anyone they find tasty."

"Why do you ask?" The king asked since he knew that tribe and he had banished them from his world

"Because we found these things attacking us and most likely they attacked Zane and Yuffie as well." Barret said while he sat down on the couch

"They are living here now?"

"Not exactly they live outside the city border." Tifa said

"Okay I want to see that hole." The king said


	7. Final Chapter

Final Chapter "Seven": Will it ever End?

In the meantime Laguna, Zane and Yuffie were still racing through the world.

"How long till we reach the next world?" Zane asked since he was getting tired of driving through the endless desert

"You see that line in the sky? That is the border between the worlds." Laguna pointed to a white light in the sky as they passed it they got back in Midgar but this time in a different place

"We are back in Midgar!" Yuffie said unhappily when suddenly their motorcycles engines stopped working

"Okay we have to go on foot." Laguna said while he got off his motorcycle and he let it fall on the ground as both Zane and Yuffie did the same and they walked for a while until they saw an airship

"It's the Highwind!" Yuffie said surprised that it was there

"Huh? Didn't Cid say that it was destroyed?" Zane asked since it looked like it was in a good shape except for all the dirt that was over it

"Anything can change in the core of darkness, and it seems like this is our next transportation out of here!" Laguna said happily since an airship would be a lot more useful

So they all got inside and saw that it was dusty and looked like it wasn't cleaned for a few Centuries "Do you think it will work?" Zane asked since he didn't expect it to since it looked much worse inside as a lot of things were broken and there were dust and spider webs everywhere

"If it's our next transport then it will." Laguna said calmly while he checked the airship out

Zane checked out some buttons and clicked a few and the Highwind started to light up and then it started to fly "Yahoo! It works!"

"Do you know how to fly an airship?" Laguna asked when he saw Zane looking confused at all the buttons that were there

"Nope…" Zane replied while wondering what buttons he should click next

"Oh! I guess that this will be our death then!" Laguna said as they were almost higher than the buildings when suddenly the engine stopped and the airship fell quickly down

"Aah! What's happening?" Yuffie shouted while they all held on to something around them as the airship fell back to the ground but the lights from the airship stayed on

"What now!" Zane shouted pissed off

"I guess our transport has been changed." Laguna said

"What? You mean the world is playing with us?"

"Not the world, the darkness."

"Damn this pisses me off to the end!" Zane said and hit the steering wheel from the airship

"Calm down, let's just get out and look for another transport." Laguna said as he was about to leave the airship when Yuffie found something

"Hey guys wait for a sec!" Yuffie said and they stopped

"What's up?" Zane asked while he went to her

"Look!" Yuffie pointed to a box which opened during their fall which had a machine gun and Zane's handgun and sword and finally Yuffie's shuriken

"It seems like the darkness wants us to fight." Laguna said as he took his machine gun while Zane had taken both his sword and handgun and he put it in his holsters while Yuffie took her shuriken

They went outside and they saw the same big monster that they first saw when they got there "Okay time to finish this!" Zane shouted and was the first one to attack

He lunged his sword right at the heart but it blocked and threw Zane back falling hard to the floor and then Laguna started shooting and Yuffie threw her shuriken towards its legs and it fell down, Laguna shot a few more rounds and then it disappeared.

"That was fairly easy I must say." Laguna said when suddenly a black smoke appeared and sucked them up and they came to a city where a waterfall was and some good built buildings and living people and sunlight.

"Are we finally out of the core?" Zane asked happy to see all the living people and the beautiful sight

"I wouldn't count on it." Laguna said since he didn't trust it

"But look at this place, it's so beautiful!" Yuffie said

"It's probably just an illusion. Try to touch it and you'll see." Laguna said and Zane did as he said and when he tried to touch it everything turned black and the living people turned into monsters and the waterfall turned into a waterfall of blood and the buildings now lied on the floor in pieces.

"As I thought just an illusion, we must get out of here." Laguna said and they all ran away as the monsters were following them

"Freaking monsters!" Zane shouted shooting back at them while they were running

Back in Hollow Bastion at the hole...

"As I thought, this hole warps the person that falls inside it to the core." The king said as he saw the same hole in some books he read before about the darkness

"So if we go down there we can come to where Zane and Yuffie are?" Leon asked since he didn't really understand it

"Unfortunately no because it's only active when it just appears and it's here already for a while so if you go inside now you will die."

"Is it dangerous in the core?" Ziad asked when suddenly Xehanort appeared out of nowhere

"Let me answer that question."

"Xehanort!" The king took his Keyblade ready

"Oh I see that our king is still alive." Xehanort said with a tone of disappointment

"So answer then!" Ziad said angrily

Xehanort sighed for a second thought if he should tell him or not but he thought he might as well enjoy the reaction

"It is the core of darkness where you will travel around the worlds that are destroyed and within these worlds are untold evils even the ones I don't know of, But what I do know is that your friends are getting far and the further they go the worse it gets, even if you go to save them, you will not find them unless the darkness wills it."

"So what can we do?" Ziad asked

"It's easy if you give me hearts than I will give your friend."

"I won't kill anyone for you!" Ziad said as Xehanort shook his head

"It would have been for your friend but as you wish…" Then Xehanort disappeared but left a present behind, about ten nobodies were ready to attack them.

They took out their weapons and Ziad shot at a few of them and Leon quickly disposed of them with a mighty blow to their heads and Mickey was slashing with his Keyblade quickly and they were all dead.

"Let's get out of here and help Zane." Ziad said as he headed back to the car

"Wait! What Xehanort said was true, we can't save him because if we go then we will just end up there as well and then we are stuck instead of them." The king said

"Okay then we don't go in but instead we wait outside the worlds."

"That's possible."

"Okay in the car before I leave you two here!" Leon said while he got in the driver's seat and the other two quickly hopped in as they raced back

In the meantime Zane, Yuffie and Laguna got to an open desert and there was one car "I guess we will need to get out of here with a car now..." Zane said bored of the darkness' games

"I am starting to feel sick of this!" Yuffie said as she felt the same as Zane and maybe even worse

"Okay I will drive." Laguna went in the driver's seat and Zane beside him and Yuffie went in the back, Laguna easily started the car and they went on full speed in the desert.

"When do you think we will get out of these worlds?" Zane asked while he was checking the car out for any supplies but it was completely empty

"I don't know." Laguna replied

"Umm... Guys there's something following us." Yuffie said as she looked through the back window while Laguna and Zane looked in their rear windows and saw something in the sand following them, so Laguna went even faster but the thing was nearing them.

"Go faster!" Zane shouted at Laguna as he didn't want their car to be destroyed now

"I can't I am at the limit." Laguna complained as he tried to go faster but the car couldn't

"Here it comes!" Yuffie shouted when the monster finally came out of the sand.

It was a very big dragon yet somehow something was off as its eyes were golden and its body was purely black as it was a Heartless dragon and it was about to spit fire at them

"Zane you take the wheel!" Laguna went on the roof of the car and Zane went quickly in the driver's seat and drove the car while Laguna was shooting at the dragon "Die!" He kept on shooting and when the dragon was just about to spit fire he shot him in the eye and it went back in the sand and disappeared.

"Okay it's gone!" Laguna said while looking around for another enemy

"Come back down!" Zane said but Laguna didn't want

"I will stay up here to see if there is any more of these things coming."

"Okay but take care because the sun is pretty sharp." Zane said as the sun was so sharp that it felt like fifty degrees

"I know, I can handle it."

After about a half hour driving Yuffie saw the light "Hey there's the line!" Yuffie shouted and she got in the seat beside Zane now

"I see it, Laguna the next world is near!"

"Yeah I see it!" Laguna said as he began shooting the sand since he saw something move and soon they went through it and they came to a place where there were a lot of monsters and broken down cars, and their car stopped working.

"I guess we didn't come to the end yet." Zane said as they stepped out of the car and Laguna jumped of the roof and he looked red from the sun.

"Nice summer?" Zane asked him jokingly

"Yeah I guess I got a tan now."

So they walked a bit but the monsters noticed them and they started to run towards them "They are coming!" Zane warned them and they took out their weapons

Zane lunged his sword in one of the monster's chest and Yuffie took one of their head's of and Laguna shot two at the same time and they were dead.

"I guess that takes ca-" But before Laguna could continue a monster took him from the back and suddenly disappeared in a black smoke

"Laguna!" Zane shouted when he tried to take his hand but it was already too late as he was gone

They waited for a while to see if he was coming back but he wasn't coming so they walked on their own until they came to a boat in the distance "Damn! I don't like boats, I get seasick." Zane said since he hated boats

"Me too." Yuffie said a little embarrassed

So they went on the boat and Zane operated it and he started to sail but he still didn't understand how to operate the boat very well yet "How do I use this thing!"

"Will this help?" Yuffie asked Zane as she gave him a sailing manual

"I guess the darkness is being a bit kind." Zane said and read the book

"But not kind enough." Yuffie said while was thinking about what could have happened to Laguna

"Yeah, I wish that he was here with us atleast then we could get out of here together." Zane said as he continued reading for an hour until he understood it a bit and he began sailing for about another hour when Yuffie saw something strange

"What is that?" Yuffie pointed to a black hole in the distance

"I have a bad feeling about this!" Zane said since he didn't like the way the hole looked like and he tried to steer around but the boat didn't react as if it got drawn towards the hole "Hold on!"

Yuffie held Zane tight while they closed their eyes and went through the hole it took longer than usual and there was something sucking them in, a few minutes later they came out and they saw a few people skating in the ice and there were people laughing and the sky looked normal

They were finally out but without Laguna "We are out!" Zane shouted began laughing as he was happy to see people and for some reason this place didn't feel like another illusion

"Yeah but I am freezing!" Yuffie said while rubbing her bare arms from the cold

"Yeah it sure is cold here especially since I lost my jacket." Zane said while he was rubbing his hands together

"And I only have this small jacket and a shirt without sleeves and shorts on."

"It was your own choice!" Zane said sarcastically

"Hey you two what are you doing here with such little clothes on?" A man asked

"We are lost!" Zane said as the man eyed them for a second to see if he could trust them

"… Come with me I can give you some of my clothes and don't worry I have female clothes as well." The man said finally since he thought that he could trust them and they followed him to his house

He knocked on the door and a girl about Yuffie's age and length opened up.

"Can you let me in Kara?"

"Sure as long as you don't bring trouble again Hank." The girl said when she opened the door for them and they went inside and they saw that the house was pretty cozy as there all kind of cushions on the floor and warm animal fur over the ground

"I just wanted give these people some clothes, they are freezing!" Hank said while they followed Kara to a room which was full of women clothes

"I have some jeans and a shirt that you could use." Kara said as Yuffie thanked her

"Okay you come with me while she changes her clothes." He led Zane to another room which was pretty messy with a lot of men clothes and some occasional women underwear

"Here you can use this jacket." Hank took a black jacket from his cupboard and gave it to Zane, Zane quickly put it on and he felt warmer

"Thanks Hank."

So they went back down and waited for Yuffie, after a few minutes Yuffie came down with black jeans and a black shirt on.

"Wow! Looks good on you!" Zane said in amazement

"Thanks." Yuffie replied shyly

"By the way what are your names?" Hank asked since he never asked them their names

"Oh I am sorry mine is Zane and hers is Yuffie."

"Nice to meet you, so where are you headed?" Hank asked as he sat down on a couch and drank some tea that was on the table

"Actually we are lost and we wanted to go back to another world." Zane said when he realized he said something wrong when he saw their faces

"Another world?" Kara asked confused

"I meant c-country." Zane said stammering as they eyed him suspiciously

"Well I don't know exactly what happened to you or how you came here but the airport is nearby if you want to go back." Hank said since he began to distrust them

"Thanks, could you just give me the directions?" Zane asked them as they wrote the directions on a piece of paper and they left a few minutes later and they headed to the airport while Yuffie was looking at him surprised

"How did you know it had to be another country?" Yuffie asked him

"Well to say the truth… This world looks pretty much like my own world." Zane said as Yuffie was now even more surprised

"You don't look all too happy to be home." She said but Zane was silent for a while

"I never wanted to go back home." Zane said and Yuffie was about to comment when Zane saw the airport "We reached the airport."

So they went to the airport ticket woman and asked for two tickets they took the tickets and went quickly went on the airplane.

They went to a seat no.12 and 13 they sat down "I guess we will finally get out of here." Zane said but somehow he felt inside himself that something was wrong and when he thought about it he figured it out, they didn't ask to see their passports and there were no security guards and no metal detectors

Then a man in red uniform came to them and asked for their passport.

"Passport?" Zane figured out that somehow they had a little bit of a different system here

"I don't have one." Yuffie said as Zane shot an angry at her

"I have one… But she is with me." Zane said trying to convince the man as he showed him his passport

The man looked at the passport for a while until his eyes met Zane again "Well I am sorry Mr. Huizen but she can't go with you unless she has a passport."

"Why? We just want to get out of here." Yuffie said annoyed

"What's that you have?" The man asked while pointing towards Zane's sword

"Ah damn it." Zane stood up and took out his sword to show him "It's just a fake." But the people around him started to scream and they ran out of the place "What's wrong?" Zane asked when he saw everyone running and he could see that the man in uniform wasn't convinced as he called in his radio the guards

"Damn! Yuffie let's get out of here!" Zane said and grabbed Yuffie's hand and they ran out of the airplane but some police cars were coming so they ran for a while until they stopped

Zane tried again to use his power but it still didn't work and the police were after them again, then a small airplane came towards them and they saw Laguna inside and he signaled them to get inside so they jumped in and he started to fly "You are still alive?" Zane asked surprised

"You really thought that I would die?" Laguna asked him

"You never know." Zane replied as they went into the air

"Can this plane get us to other worlds?" Yuffie asked but Laguna shook his head

"No but we can go to different places though."

"Do you have a mobile perchance?" Zane asked Laguna

"Yeah I saw one in the back."

Zane looked in the back and found the mobile and dialed Cloud's number and to his surprise he picked up because he could only answer if he was near the world "Yeah?"

"Cloud! We need help!" Zane nearly shouted in the phone

"Zane? You are alive?" Cloud was very surprised to hear from him

"Yeah but we are lost and we are out of the core but now we are in a big world and we can't get out of here."

"Okay we will come to look for you tomorrow, but if you find out where you are tell us."

"Just look for a really big world somewhere North of Hollow Bastion. It shouldn't be too far so let Cid use his computer on the airship to track this mobile's signal."

"Okay I will tell him, see ya soon!" And he hung up and went to everyone and told them the news and after a few hours they all were at Merlin's place.

"Well like I said Zane and Yuffie are in some big world and they can't get out, so we will have to go tomorrow to search for this big world and get them out of there okay?" Cloud said as they all nodded "Okay now I need volunteers."

"Ofcourse I will go as I fly the ship." Cid said

"I will help him." Ziad said also

"I think that I will go too this time." Leon said since he felt obligated to do something now

"Mind if I tag along?" Reno asked as he came inside with Rude by his side

"No problem for me." Leon said while Cloud was eyeing Reno

"I will go." Irvine said because he liked new places

"Okay the rest will stay here and guard the city. We leave early in the morning." Leon said and everyone went back to their previous duties

Back in the big world Laguna landed somewhere in an airport and the place looked more green and it was warmer "Okay we will need to check this place out and see if we can find anything that can get us out of here." Laguna said as they went out of the small plane "But hide your weapons, otherwise the police will be on our tail again."

"Well it seems like we will need a very big bag since Yuffie's shuriken isn't all that small." Zane said pointing towards Yuffie's shuriken

"Great… Okay you look for this bag and we will wait there until you came back." Laguna pointed to a place where tall grass was and it was a good place to hide

"Okay I will be back soon." Zane saw a bit later a deserted motorcycle so he played a bit with the wires and then the engine started and he sped off in the distance while Yuffie and Laguna were hiding from all the army men that were walking around in that area.

"Do you think that we can come back?" Yuffie asked him nervously

"I think so, but I am not sure." Laguna said checking their movements closely

While they were still hiding Zane found a shop for bags and he stepped inside and saw a lot of bags all over the place, but he didn't see a big enough bag so he went to the cashier and asked for a big one, so the cashier man went to the back but he noticed Zane's sword and he was a bit afraid "Something wrong?"

"No, I just wanted to know what you wanted to use the bag for." The cashier asked as he tried to stay casual

"We will put some stuff inside as our stuff is too big for us to carry around." Zane explained but didn't really know why he had to explain himself to a cashier

So the cashier went in the next room but he was taking a long time and Zane didn't really want to wait a long time "Hey mister you still there!"

"Just a minute!" The man shouted from the back as Zane waited a few more minutes and then the man came back with a big bag "Here it is."

"How much?" Zane asked as the man put the bag on his front desk

"About 70 munny."

"70! That's way too much." Zane said shocked to see that a bag was that expensive

"Take it or leave it."

"Fine I will take it." So Zane took out 70 munny from his pocket and handed it to the man and he only had 10 munny left so he took the bag and went outside

Just as he got outside the sirens of the police were coming near "Probably not after me." Zane thought since the police wouldn't know where he was

So he tied his bag in the back of the motorcycle and the police were near now and some cars stopped near him and a few policemen started to shoot at Zane

He quickly got on bike and started the engine and raced of with the police on his tail he knew that he couldn't go back yet, otherwise he would put the others at risk

So he raced through some streets but the police was still after him and they were catching up and they started to shoot again this time hitting his rear mirror "Damn! Why are they after me?" Zane wondered since they couldn't have known about him yet

"Freeze!" A police man stood in front of him and had his gun pointed towards him, so Zane veered quickly to the left and the police man started shooting and he hit his bike and it started to catch fire so he knew he had to be fast so he sped back to the airport but the police were still after him.

"Look it's Zane." Yuffie said as she was about to stand up and go to him but Laguna stopped her

"Wait, his bike is on fire and the police are after him." He said when Yuffie then saw it and started to get worried

"What are we going to do?" Yuffie asked worried

"Just wait." Laguna expected Zane to give them a signal and surprisingly he signaled them to run

"Smart kid… It's time for us to go!" Laguna said

"What about Zane?" Yuffie asked him

"He will make it." Laguna said as they ran away and a few minutes later they heard an explosion and when they looked back they saw a black cloud in the sky

"What happened?"

"His bike exploded." Laguna said as they moved on again

"And Zane?"

"I told you not to worry about him." Laguna replied as Yuffie followed him quietly until they came to a bar where they could drink something. But before they went inside they hid their weapons in the grass and then they went inside.

They sat on a chair and they took some soda and the T.V was on and they saw on it the news about a man on a motorcycle racing through the city and then went in the airport and they saw a picture of Zane and they directly wondered how they got it.

"How did they take that picture?" Yuffie asked Laguna but the female bartender replied instead

"They found his passport ofcourse! And surely they will catch that bastard."

"His passport?" Laguna asked surprised

"Yeah and it seems like that young man is actually a serial killer, whoever he killed always ended with atleast his body slashed in half!" The bartender said angrily

Suddenly the reporter on T.V started to speak again, "The police have found the killer's motorcycle burned in the airport but the killer somehow escaped and the police are after him and they will catch him soon enough"

"Freaking serial killers are always so hard to catch!" The bartender said as Laguna understood the situation a bit better

A day had passed and they were still going around in the streets but Zane didn't come yet "What's taking him so long?"

"I don't know, probably running from all the police that are in this neighborhood." Laguna said since the police didn't stop driving around crazily since the day before

"Probably." Yuffie said whe she saw the police still driving around so that probably meant that they didn't find him

Back in Hollow Bastion at the airship...

"Okay guys I guess this is goodbye for now." Cid said excited to fly again

"Take care though!" Riku said while they all nodded

"Take care Squall." Rhinoa said and she kissed him and then she left

"You too Cloud, take care and don't come back dead!" Tifa said with a stern voice

"I sure won't." Cloud replied

"I wanted to help but I guess that we will have to defend this city for now." Sora said

"I am counting on you guys, You are to take care of the people mainly after that you can take care of the city." Leon said while Cid was opening the door of the airship

"Leave it to us!" Donald said with pride

"Yeah the exsepert ones!" Goofy said

"That's EXPERT E-X-P-E-R-T!" Donald shouted correcting Goofy

"Right, expert."

"I will govern this city as if it was my own so don't worry." The King said

"Stay safe guys and by the way I fixed my mobile." Barret said as he held Marlene on his right arm

"Reno, don't fight with Cloud this is a rescue mission." Rude said while Reno was thinking of a prank

"Yeah yeah I know, as long as he doesn't start."

"Okay that's everyone, Cid get ready for take off!" Leon said when Cid ran inside and readied the airship

"Well we are going now, take care all!" Leon said as they went inside the airship and they started to fly while Cid was closing the hatch and soon they were in outer space and they chose to go North on full speed.

"I just hope that this world isn't so far away." Cid said

"Cloud why don't you call Zane again and see if he found something out yet." Reno asked him as Cloud was surprised he actually had some good ideas

"Not a bad idea coming from you."

"What's that supposed to mean!" Reno asked angrily

"Nothing. Get ready to track it Cid!" So Cloud dialed the number but somebody else answered.

"Who is it?" Laguna asked

"I am sorry I think I dialed the wrong number." So Cloud hung up and redialed the number but the same person answered.

"What now?" Laguna asked annoyed

"Is this Zane's mobile?" Cloud asked

"It might be… But who are you?"

"I'm Cloud."

"So you are Cloud, well you better hurry because we have some problems out here and we need to get out quick."

"Who are you?" Cloud this time asked

"My name is Laguna Loire and I am helping them escape but the police are on our trail and they want us dead."

"Can't you give any more information on the world?"

Laguna looked at the sky and found something out of the ordinary, he saw a circle shaped red light in the sky "There seems to be some other red planet not far from here as I can see something red in the distance."

"Okay we are on our way!" So Cloud hung up and turned to look at the others

"And?" Ziad asked impatiently

"There seems to be a red world near their world and the police are after them and it seems like they want them dead."

"The cops! How did they find them?"

"Huh? Something wrong Ziad?" Cloud asked him as he was getting hysterical

"It's our world! But the police were after us because they think we are serial killers and even though that isn't untrue, they exaggerated it a bit."

"Serial killers?" Irvine asked confused

"We aren't exactly going by the rules; we kill the bad guys for money."

"Like mercenaries then?" Reno asked

"Yeah, but one time this police chief who actually is a leader of one of the biggest gangsters saw us and he has been after us the whole time."

"So when we land there I have to keep my missiles ready?" Cid asked him as he nodded

"Yeah, unless you want to be roasted!"

Back in the big world near a few shops Zane was still running from the cops and he knew if we would get caught then he would be done for, so he quickly went around some shops until a man in normal trousers and a heavy looking jacket suddenly stood in front of him.

"So we meet at last Zane." The man said while he looked at Zane with dark green eyes which seemed to shine in the light

"Detective Kyle!" Zane shocked to see him

"It's been a long time, now you come with us." Kyle said as he was about to take Zane but he pulled away

"I will never!" Zane began running away but the detective was quickly after him, Zane ran through some streets until he heard the sirens he looked around and saw a few police cars coming and they were nearing Zane as the detective went back and got in his car as well and built up speed and went after Zane.

So Zane looked around a bit and he saw a ladder and he went on it until he climbed to the top of the building and the detective and the cops were already climbing the ladder as well, So Zane ran quickly on the building and saw some planks that could help him cross the next building until he came to a dead end as there was no planks anymore except for some metal pipes.

"Guess I will have to try or die trying." Once Zane was on the pipe the detective shot at him hitting him in his arm again, he shouted in pain and fell down the building.

"Did you hear that? It was a gunshot." Yuffie said as she heard the gunshot

"I just hope that they didn't get him, I will go check while you wait here." Yuffie stayed behind while Laguna went to where the gunshot came from but he didn't find anything except some police near a building talking about some garbage truck and he could hear them say that they shot him in his arm. So he went back to Yuffie and told her what he saw and heard.

"In his arm!" Yuffie asked

"I guess so and now he is on a garbage truck."

Suddenly they heard gunshots and followed by machine guns and rockets when they looked they saw the army attacking and killing the cops and the buildings were destroying and then another army came with tanks and they started to shoot back and soon the whole place had become a battlefield.

"We have to get out of here." So they ran away and they looked around to see if they were followed but no one was following them but they could see that there was fire in the distance.

"What's with this world?" Yuffie wondered as there were a lot of army men running around

"No Idea!" So they came to an abandoned warehouse and they went inside for shelter from the battlefield

Back in space Cid found the red world and soon he found the big world and he could see from that distance all kind of explosions.

"We have to go in there!" Cid asked since he didn't like the way how the world looked

"Yeah that's the world." Ziad said when he recognized it

"That world is a battlefield!" Leon said as they were getting closer and they could see all the armies shooting at each other

"Okay I am going more down but some of you will have to go on deck in order to shoot all these guys while I prepare the missiles."

"I will go." Irvine said and took his rifle and went up

"Yeah me too." Ziad said as he followed Irvine

"Count me in." Reno said

"Do you even have a gun?" Cloud asked him surprised

"Yeah I took a rifle when I came here."

"Okay but you all better take care as they will shoot us." Leon said while they left

So they went on deck as Cid was going down and they started to shoot the army

One by one they died until a tank turned and was ready to shoot but Cid finished his preparations and he shot two missiles at the tanks and it exploded "Yeah!"

So they flew through the city and they found Yuffie and Laguna.

"Over here come on!" Irvine lowered the airship's ladder and they quickly went on the ladder while Ziad and Reno were shooting the incoming soldiers.

"I am out! I need more bullets!" Reno said as his rifle clicked empty and Irvine quickly threw him a box of bullets and Reno quickly reloaded his rifle and started shooting again.

Yuffie and Laguna came now on the deck and they flew away from the battlefield.

So they went inside the bridge.

"Welcome back but where's Zane?" Cid asked since he didn't see him

"I don't know but the police shot him and he fell of a building and landed in a garbage truck and then I don't know." Yuffie explained

"Did they find out who he was?" Ziad asked and Yuffie nodded

"Yeah they somehow had his picture and he had a passport with him that they found."

"Damn! That means big trouble."

"They said something about him being a serial killer." Laguna said

"I'll explain later on."

"So where do you think Zane went?" Reno asked as he wanted to get out of that place fast

"To our apartment, he is injured and we have medical things there and weapons as well."

"Okay you lead the way." Cid said while Ziad instructed him where to go to get to his apartment, however Zane was already inside

Zane was busy using some medical equipment and took the bullet out from his arm, he shouted from the pain for a while and then he closed it with a bandage and then he went to his closet and pushed some button

The closet disappeared and a room appeared behind it and there were two machine guns and some magazines of bullets and he took a machine gun and the bullets and went back outside

He saw a few army men he shot them and went down the road until the detective came again.

"Zane! Freeze!" The detective held a gun to his head from the back and Zane threw down his machine gun "That's right! Now you are coming with me." Kyle removed the gun from his head and put it in his holster and he was about to take handcuffs but Zane quickly took the chance and took his sword and turned around and slashed him in his face making a huge scar

Kyle screamed from pain as he checked his face and felt the deep cut and he was about go berserk but Zane already ran away

Kyle took his gun and began shooting at Zane but he kept on missing as the blood was coming to his eyes making him see worse "Damn him!"

Zane saw after a while the airship and he was so happy that he didn't concentrate on the tank that was targeting him.

The tank shot a rocket but it hit the building behind him and it exploded as the explosion made Zane fly in the air from the explosion and he landed right on the deck of the airship.

So Zane went inside and Cid quickly took off and went back in outer space "I guess I am still alive thanks to you all." Zane said

"Zane!" Yuffie shouted as she ran to him and hugged him

"They can't kill me that easily." Zane said as he stroked her hair

She broke off the hug and went to sit down on a near sofa and Zane sat beside her since he was exhausted from the battle.

"So you are from here huh?" Cid said

"Yeah."

"How did you come here?" Cid asked as he was wondering how he got there

"Don't know we went through the core of darkness and then we came on that world."

"Yeah we heard that you were in the core from Xehanort." Leon said as Zane looked surprised

"Xehanort? How did he know?"

"Buddy he is the leader from the darkness remember?" Reno said

"Yeah… I had forgotten about that."

"So where to now?" Cid asked since he wanted to know what to do next

"We will go to another world and hunt this Xehanort down!" Leon said with determination

"The red world?" Cid asked but Ziad immediately told him no

"No don't go there! That place has only death! If you land then you will be directly surrounded by the dead."

"Okay another place then."

"How about we go west?" Reno asked as they found it okay and they headed west

"So Laguna what exactly happened in the core?" Ziad asked him and Laguna was about to reply when suddenly a black smoke appeared right beside them and they tried to run but the smoke engulfed them and then they disappeared

Zane noticed that they were both gone after about two hours "Huh? Does anyone know where Laguna and Ziad went?"

"They must be somewhere in the airship." Leon said

"I guess… I will look for him." Zane as he looked around the airship for Ziad and Laguna but he couldn't find them anywhere

Then suddenly an airship appeared and shot a missile at them...

"Incoming missile!" Cid shouted when he saw the missiles on his radar

"Missile? Who would that be?" Leon wondered

"Releasing flares!" Cid pushed a few buttons and the flares were released and the missile blew up in space "Yeah! No one dares to touch me!"

Incoming message, "What are you doing in this place?" A woman asked them

"The hell! You wanted to shoot us!"

"You are human?"

"What else! Junk?"

"I guess we can cooperate than, follow me and don't talk until we land"

"What the hell! Why should I listen to a woman!" Cid shouted back but the line was already gone

"Let's do what she says for now, we never know maybe she also has problems with Xehanort." Leon said as Cid agreed and turned around and followed the other airship

"I can't find them anywhere… And what's with all this moving?" Zane asked when he came back to the bridge

"We have to follow this crazy woman."

"Yeah I overheard." So Zane went to sit on the sofa again beside Yuffie and he put an arm around her

So they were following the other airship for over an hour and they didn't stop yet "Man! When is this woman going to land?" Cid asked since he didn't like following her

"Oh buddy, don't worry about it as long as you stay calm everything will be okay." Reno said sarcastically

"I am not your buddy!"

"Fine, Highwind."

"So Leon how did you and Rhinoa fall in love?" Cloud asked suddenly as Leon looked surprised back at him

"Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering what you did."

"Well I just said that I loved her and the next minute I found her in my arms."

"That easy!" Cloud asked him as it seemed fairly easy

"Yeah… Kind of weird now that I think about it."

"Guess I could try it out." Cloud said softly but not soft enough because Leon heard him

"Well it will succeed as I know that she loves you already."

"I sure hope so." Cloud said hoping that she would feel the same as he did

In the meantime Sora and the others had a call "Hello?"

"Sora! We are having trouble come over here right away!" Cid said

"Trouble what kind of trouble?" Sora asked

"Just trouble damn it! Now come over to the Olympus coliseum!"

"Olympus? Why?"

"I will tell you when I get there! Now get your ass moving!" Cid shouted and the line got disconnected after that

"That's weird." Sora said as he felt like something was off with Cid

"What's wrong?" Riku asked

"It was Cid, but he surely sounded weird and he asked for us to go to Olympus."

"That sure is strange, Cid almost never asks for help." Tifa said as she knew Cid for quite some time

"I guess he lost his mind!" Merlin said happily

"Well I don't know it's your decision but if you go be careful." Tifa said since she didn't trust it at all

"We'll go, don't want let him down now would we?" Sora said and rushed towards the gummi ship

So they went outside and left in the gummi ship and made their target Olympus.

Back in Cid's airship, Cid was getting very nervous.

"Damn it man! When is she going to land!" Cid asked angrily as he was getting very bored from following her without any explanation

"Calm down Cid." Leon said while he put a hand on his shoulder but Cid quickly took it away

"How can I calm down after this woman lets us follow her the whole time and she doesn't even land?"

Incoming message. "Okay we are going to land, follow me"

"Was about time!"

Message over.

So Cid quickly did the same and landed after her and they went out of the airship and they saw a city which was in bad shape and a few f-17s were here as if they are at constant war and suddenly there was an explosion and some trees got destroyed in the distance.

"Nice place!" Cid said sarcastically

So they walked to the woman who was coming towards them with about three more women following her.

"Come with me inside!" The red-haired woman in front of them said

So they followed her silently inside a warehouse which was full of weapons and bombs, they walked on some stairs and followed her to a big room with chairs and tables, she signaled them to sit down and they all sat. They all had kind of similar clothes on, the red-haired woman had her hair loose and most likely the leader had a red T-shirt and jeans on and she was around 30 years old

Another one had blonde hair and was tall she had blue clothes on blue shirt and jeans she was around 20 years old, The other one was a little bit smaller, she had brown loose hair and she had a yellow t-shirt on and normal black trousers on and she is about 16 years old

The last one was a bit taller and she had red hair as well and it was put in a ponytail and she had a black T-shirt on and jeans on she is about 21 years old.

"So what did you bring us here for? We don't really have time to chat." Zane said also angry

"I brought you all here because we are fighting some kind of organization and we will need help killing them."

"Organization XIII perchance?" Leon asked her as she nodded

"How did you know?"

"We have been chasing these monkeys all over the worlds!" Cid said getting less angry now

"Well I guess we could work together then."

"Fine by me, and I guess we could start introducing ourselves, I am Squall Leonhart and I am the leader."

"Cloud Strife I am the second in-command."

"Cid Highwind, The best airship engineer and the master brain." Cid said proudly

"Irvine Kinneas but everyone calls me Kine, The best sniper in SeeD and I always to try to please pretty women!" Irvine said while taking off his hat bowed

"Reno Hauschester I am an ex-Turk I fight with my nightstick yet I can use a gun."

"Yuffie Kisaragi I am a ninja."

"Zane Huizen, the rest isn't important."

"Okay, I am Jessica Kart I am a swordfighter and leader of this crew." The red-haired woman said

"I am Sarah Weather I am a dancer yet I can use a staff." The blonde woman said beside her

"I am Jessica's sister my name is Jane Kart I can use magic." The younger brown haired girl said

"I am Rose Jokam a former member of the Katrina squad I use a spear." The red-haired woman who had her hair in a ponytail said

"Okay we will have to work together and keep this organization away from us, so we are going to split in three groups and attack from the middle, left and from the right and we will kill any organization member that tries to get in our way and after that we secure the area and come back Okay? Cid, Rose and Reno you all and I will attack from the left. Leon, Sarah, Cloud and Kine attack from the middle while Zane, Yuffie and Jane attack from the right. Understood?" Jessica asked and they all agreed

So they took their equipment and were walking outside.

"So uh Rose... Do you have a boyfriend?" Reno asked as he directly liked her

"Why do you ask that?" She asked him as he looked confused

"Uh... no reason."

"Well then I don't want to answer it then."

"Why?" Reno asked as he wanted to know

"No reason." She replied imitating him

"Okay we are here! We are going to split up and get these bastards okay!" Jessica said when they got to the forest and they all understood

So they went their separate ways into the forest, the first ones to go in was Jessica and the other after that Leon and then Zane.

"Take care for the low hanging branches." Jessica said while pulling the branches away

"Don't worry about me, I am always careful." Cid said as he pushed a branch away but he let go of it too quick and it hit him in his face

Reno was moving nervously as a lot of branches were trying to cut his face while he took them away "Damn! These branches are annoying as hell!"

"Yeah I know." Rose replied since she also had problems with the branches

Suddenly a heartless appeared and it tried to attack them but Jessica was quick and she slashed it in its head and it disappeared but suddenly another one came from the back, Cid quickly lunged his spear against the monster and it hit its chest and it disappeared as well.

"Thanks."

"It was nothing." Cid said and they continued on

As they were coming from the left Leon, Sarah and Irvine were attacking from the middle...

"So lovely Sarah what is your favorite food?" Irvine asked her

"Huh? I guess its steak with potatoes."

"Well you know I like that as well."

"Okay great." And she quickly took a few more steps forwards.

"Hey, do you see that over there?" Leon pointed to an entrance which was made of metal

"I see it." Cloud replied

"I guess that this is their hideout." Sarah said

"Shall we go in or shall we wait for the others to show up?" Irvine asked as he wanted to stay for a while

"We wait for a while." Leon said and they all sat down

"Great idea, I will keep watch!" So Irvine went a bit in the forest and was preparing his rifle for if anything comes

The only ones that had some bad luck were Zane, Yuffie and Jane "You know nature can be nice but if it does- whooooooo!" Zane suddenly got taken up and he saw that it was a trap and he was hanging on a rope

They both looked up and saw that Zane was hanging on the rope so Zane took his sword and cut the rope and he fell down hard on his back "I hate traps!"

"I guess you will have to take better care." Jane said

"Yeah well I wasn't thinking that they would be smart enough to make traps." Zane said unhappily

"Correct! Because we didn't make that trap." A man in a black robe said as he came towards them

"Who are you?"

"The name is Demyx!" He took of the cloak from his head revealing a face of a 17 year old and had blonde hair.

"I had to... What did I have to do again?" He took a paper from his pocket and started to read aloud "Kill any one who tries to come into our place… They sure picked the wrong guy, Oh well I guess I don't really have a choice." So Demyx took out two swords and took an attacking stance

"So it seems." Zane said as they all took their weapons and went also in fighting positions

The first one to attack was Demyx, he rushed quickly towards Zane with his two swords, Zane defended and he hit his sword Zane then slashed at him but he was already behind him, when he was just about to strike Yuffie threw her shuriken towards his arm and it started to bleed and he shouted in pain

"Huh? He is bleeding?" Zane was confused because Nobodies weren't supposed to bleed

Demyx looked at his wound in horror and then he disappeared in a black smoke.

"That's weird." Yuffie said as Jane was confused about what was happening

"Why?"

"Because they are nobodies and they aren't supposed to bleed."

So they just went on walking until they came to a stairs that went down.

"I guess we are going down." Zane said

"You go first." Yuffie said

"Well I guess I am the ONLY man here after all." Zane said and he was the first one to go down and once he got to the bottom it was pitch dark "Okay you can come!"

So they went down and they saw that it was pitch dark "Don't you have a light?" Yuffie asked since she didn't really like dark places

"I have, I took one from Cid's boxes." So Zane searched a bit in his pocket till he found what he was searching for and he lighted the lighter revealing a dark and long corridor "I guess that it is going to be a long walk."

"I hate dark places." Yuffie complained

"Who doesn't?" Jane replied as she felt the same and they continued walking in the corridor while Jessica and the others came to where Leon and the others were waiting

"Well I guess we took an alternate route for nothing." Jessica said

"Yeah, shall we go in?" Cloud asked since he felt enough from waiting

"What about Jane and the others?" Jessica asked

"Don't worry about them, Zane will protect them."

"Okay time to open this old thing!" Cid tried to open it with his hands but it didn't work, and Leon saw that there was a number lock

"Cid it's electrical locked." Leon said

"Lemme see." Cid checked the number lock and started to laugh "Haha! That's a piece of cake." Cid took out a machine and connected it to the lock and on the machine some numbers appeared and typed in those numbers and the door opened "Told ya!"

So they went inside but it was very dark inside.

"Hmmm... I can't see a thing." Irvine said as it was too dark

"It was about time that you all came!" A man said and they looked around to see where the voice came from but it sounded like it came from all around them

"Why don't you show yourself!" Reno said angrily

"Always the same temper eh Reno?" Then the voice came back to Reno's mind

"Rufus!" Then he turned the lights on and they saw a man in a white robe not revealing his face and he was in a wheelchair with two man in black robes beside him

"So Reno, you abandoned me and you sided with the enemies, I expected more from you!"

"What do you want Rufus!" Cloud asked angrily

"Well well Cloud is here as well, I guess I must be getting lucky."

"I thought that you were dead!" Reno said as he was almost sure that he died

"Well now these people were kind enough to help me after you just ran when Sephiroth came." Rufus said pointing towards the men in robes beside him

"So what is it that you want now?" Cloud asked

"Must we always get to the point? Well I want you two to fight one of my creations bare handed and if you win I could let you through…Agreed?" Rufus said as both Cloud and Reno agreed "Okay let the show BEGIN!"

Cloud and Reno stepped forward while a gate was opening from the right and a big monster with horns on it's head and had large claws and red eyes "Let me introduce to you BEHEMOTH! Its Hojo's newest creation!"

"Hojo is dead!"

"Well people tend to come back alive these days… Now he is currently researching some hearts for our fellow members."

"Enough! After I finish of this thing I will come after you!" Reno said angrily as Rufus couldn't help but laugh at him

"Don't destroy the fun so soon, now fight!" Rufus pushed a button and the monster started attacking fiercely, it first tried to hit them with his tail but they ducked and then they quickly came near it and they punched it quickly a few times but it didn't affect it and it slashed it's claws at them but missed

They went now on the monster and Reno was the first one to reach it's head and started kicking it and soon Cloud also came on top and punched it in the face a few times hard and then the monster fell down.

Then Rufus started to clap his hands "I am impressed! But do you really think that he is dead?"

"It won't die with just bare hands." Cloud said

"Half correct! But it isn't even alive to start with."

"Where is the organization!" Jessica asked

"And who might you be? Oh... I remember now you are that girl's sister right? I do have a surprise for you, do you know from what we made Behemoth? We made it from your parents cells and flesh!"

"Sick Bastard!" She ran towards him with her sword raised up and she jumped but the two men in robes stood in front of him and they kicked her and she flew back against the wall.

"You okay?" Cid asked as he held out a hand

"Yeah." She took his hand and stood up

"Well I guess I must be going!" Then Rufus and the two men disappeared in a black smoke

"Yeah run, Chicken Head!" Cloud shouted

So they went inside a room where they saw all kind of scientifical stuff like bottles of yellow water and blood tubes and some papers caught Cloud's eyes "What the!" He picked up the paper and started to read "This paper shows that Hojo is experimenting the Jenova cells on the nobodies and it succeeded!"

"What!" Leon asked surprised

"That's what it says." Cloud said surprised

"Is that bad?" Jessica asked since she didn't understand what the Jenova cells were

"Beyond bad."

"That will mean that the nobodies will have super strength especially since they aren't alive." Reno said as he understood

"Then we have to stop them!" Rose said when suddenly the place started to shake and the wall was coming down and rocks were falling from the ceiling.

"Rufus rigged the building, Let's get out of here!" Reno said while heading towards the exit

"What about my sister she may be around here!"

"Zane will take care of them." Cid said as he took Jessica's hand and they ran outside and when they were out a few minutes later the whole place crumbled.

Somewhere in the basement...

"What was that?" Zane wondered when he heard a lot of things fall above him

"I think the place above us crumbled." Yuffie said

"It might be Leon and the others, Okay Yuffie, Jane get out of here and search for Leon and the others while I will check this place out okay?" Zane said

"Okay."

"Well you take care." Yuffie said

"Don't worry, I will meet you back in the warehouse." So they left and Zane went deeper inside until he came to an underground lab and there was a large tube in the middle and somebody with silver hair was inside it.

Yuffie and Jane quickly ran to the place where Cid and the others were "Jane! You are alive!" Jessica hugged her sister and then they sat down

"Zane found some underground passage and is exploring it but there was something crumbling above us so he wanted us to check it out." Jane said

"It's best if we go to Zane because I can feel him nearby." Cloud said as Cid looked surprised

"Don't tell me that he could be down there eh." Cid asked Cloud nodded

"Allright we'll check it out and come back, so just wait here all."

"Take care." Yuffie said worried

"Don't worry Yuffie." Cid said and they headed towards the stairs

Back at the lab Zane was busy removing the wires that connected Sephiroth with the nobodies "Damn them, they are getting smarter by the minute."

"What do you think you are doing?" A man in a white coat stood staring at Zane and then looked at the wires in his hand and he shocked at that "You dare to destroy my creations!" He was getting furious but Zane ignored him and took the other wires out as well until they were all out

"No more cells being distributed from Jenova." Zane said angrily

"I won't let you!" The man chanted something as Sephiroth's body disappeared from the tube and turned into green dust and then went inside Zane as he began to feel strange and he felt like something was attacking his mind, he tried to resist and he fell on his knees and started to shout

"Do you hear that? He started it!" Cloud said and once they came to Zane they saw Sephiroth in a big tube and Hojo and Zane on his knees "Zane!"

He tried to run to him but suddenly he saw that Zane's eyes changed they were now shining red eyes and he stood up "You will fall Cloud!" Zane said with a different voice "I have come back to kill you Cloud and after that the whole world will fall on their knees!" Zane took his sword and stood in an attack stance

"No I can't do this!" Cloud hesitated because he didn't want to kill Zane

"Damn you Hojo!" Cid took Hojo by his neck and raised him up but Zane quickly kicked Cid in his torso and he flew back against the wall.

"Haha! This boy thinks that he can resist me!" Zane then took his sword and he fought with Cloud first he attacked quickly and slashed a few times but Cloud blocked and he slashed back but Zane blocked and then Zane kicked him in his chest and then directly gave a punch to his face sending Cloud to the ground

"Zane listen to me! Don't do this! Fight him in your mind!" Cloud shouted

"I locked Zane up and this body is now mine!" Zane took his sword up and was about to strike but suddenly Yuffie came

"Zane! Don't do it!" She shouted as Zane calmed down when he saw her

"Huh? Yuffie?" Zane was starting to regain his senses but Sephiroth was still strong in his mind

"I won't let you beat me!" Sephiroth said in his mind

Zane then suddenly raised his hands to his head and fell to his knees as he tried to take Sephiroth out of his mind but didn't succeed and Sephiroth took him over and he stood up again this time Cid stood up and held Zane tight from the back and Cloud held his hands

"Yuffie quickly take the book and read the chant to make Sephiroth get out of his mind." Cloud said as they tried to hold Zane still

"Aaah! I will kill you Cloud!" Sephiroth shouted from within Zane

"You wish!"

Yuffie quickly took the book and searched for the chant.

"Hurry!" Cid shouted as Zane was slipping

"I am doing my best! ... Found it!"

"Quick, say it!"

"kara Ku komina no Hastorta!" Zane was starting to calm down but he was still in his head

"No!" Hojo took the book from Yuffie and quickly passed a few pages and said the words on that page and Zane broke free from Cid and Cloud's grasp as he shouted for a second and then disappeared

"What did you do!" Cloud asked Hojo angrily

"Where's Zane!" Yuffie asked him angrily as well

"He is with Sephiroth, probably fighting for his life somewhere."

"You piece of- give me that book!" Cid was just about to take the book from Hojo but he retreated and took a lighter from his pocket and burned the book and then he disappeared in a black smoke

"What now!" Cid asked

"There is nothing that we can do." Cloud said when suddenly Cid saw a time bomb on the ground

"Only one minute left! Let's get out of here!" Cid shouted

"I won't leave!" But Cloud didn't react to what she said instead he just took her from her arm and took her with him until they got out and the place exploded.

"Why did you take me?" Yuffie asked stubbornly

"We never know if he will come back." Cloud said but Yuffie didn't say anything on the way back until they came to Jessica and the others

"Where is he?" Leon asked since he couldn't see Zane with them

"We don't know." Cid said

"What do you mean you don't know?" Reno asked sarcastically

"I mean that Sephiroth took him over and then disappeared!" Cid said angrily as he threw his spear to the ground

"Do you think he will come back?" Irvine asked

"I hope so!"

"Okay I have decided to help you out and we will together defeat this organization!" Jessica said as they all went back to the warehouse and Yuffie looked around to see if he had come back but he didn't and after a while they departed and left the world and they went in outer space.

"I am going to bed." Yuffie said and left

"Damn! Where can we find him?" Cid said since he didn't know where to start

"Why don't you try to look for him in the "World that never was"?" Rose asked

"Where's that?"

"It's just north of here, we heard that the organization has the world for themselves there."

"For what shall we go to the organization?"

"She is right. The organization and Rufus are cooperating together so most likely their base will be there." Cloud said

"Okay, full speed ahead!" Cid pushed a button for turbo speed and they were in "The world that never was" quicker than they had expected, Cid had already landed and they were preparing their equipment and they walked swiftly towards the castle while the heart moon was watching their every move

Once they got to the castle's gates they opened it and went inside the castle and they went quickly to the top floor, but the strangest thing was that there were no defenses and the castle was too quiet "There's something fishy here!" Cid said since he didn't trust it

"Yeah it's too quiet!" Leon said as he agreed with Cid

"Welcome to the castle of doom!" Xehanort said above them

"Where's Zane?" Yuffie asked him

"Who's Zane? I don't think that I remember anyone with that name." Xehanort said acting confused

"Tell me!" Yuffie took out her shuriken now

"I guess I could tell you as I don't have anything to lose, He is dead!"

"No he can't be!" Yuffie shouted as she wouldn't believe that he was dead

"Well what did you expect? Do you really think that he can win from the all powerful Sephiroth?"

"Yes he can!"

"Okay I will show you something." He waved his hand and a screen appeared and they saw Sephiroth fighting Zane but it looked like Zane was losing

"Where is that?" Cloud asked

"That is in the promised land ofcourse! You see Zane can't fight at his best there so Sephiroth took him there." Suddenly Zane fell to his knees and Sephiroth was nearing and he rushed towards him with his sword raised and then the screen disappeared "Just like I said, he will lose!"

"You piece of-" Cid was about to insult him but Xehanort stopped him

"Hold your tongue! I won't be insulted!" Xehanort said as Cid was close now and he spitted in Xehanort's face

"You can go to hell!"

"Fine but I must say Cid and Yuffie that this is just the beginning of the end as Sora and Riku went somewhere on your orders."

"My orders?" Cid asked confused

"Not exactly yours but with your voice."

"Start making sense!" Cid shouted since he didn't understand

"He means that I told Sora to go to Olympus to help you but I used your voice." Ansem now said as he appeared out of nowhere

"Ansem! You vile beast!" Yuffie shouted

"Hohoho! The girl is pissed, is it because he is finally dead?" Ansem said making fun of her

"Shut up! I won't believe he is dead." Yuffie ran towards Ansem and threw her shuriken towards Ansem and it hit him in his face and then she quickly kicked Xehanort in his knees and they both fell down

"My Face!" Ansem shocked

But Xehanort stood up and he targeted Yuffie with his hand and a dark cloud pushed Yuffie away

Cloud then ran towards Xehanort while Cid held Yuffie so that she won't get blown outside and Jessica attacked Ansem who was still on the floor she quickly slashed his head off and the only one left was Xehanort.

"Haha! I will get power!" But he didn't see Cloud coming in fast and Cloud jumped and his sword started to shine and then it went into pieces and it all hit Xehanort.

"Nooooo!" Xehanort disappeared in a black smoke

"Now you shut up!" Cloud said as he stood over where Xehanort used to be

"Is it over?" Jessica asked

"Yes it's over."

"But there are still a few more members left." Jane said as some men in robes disappeared

"They won't be able to think properly now that their leader is gone, it's all over." Leon said since he knew that both Xehanort and Ansem were the bosses but the only thing that worried him now was Rufus

So they went back to the airship and they made their destination Hollow Bastion.

"By the way does anybody have a clue on where Laguna and Ziad went?" Cloud asked as he didn't see them at all

"No they were here before Jessica attacked us." Cid replied since he too found it strange now

"They might have been transported to some place." Leon said

"After we come back I will go looking for Zane, as I don't think that he is dead." Yuffie suddenly said

"And you can count me in!" Cid said as well

"Are you sure that is what you want? Even though you may never find him as we saw that he died." Cloud said since he didn't want her to get her hopes up

"I don't know anymore!" Yuffie said as she was confused about all what was happening

"Just stay in Hollow Bastion and start a new life, there's nothing that we can do about it now."

"We'll see." They came back to Hollow Bastion and told all of them about what happened and they didn't speak after that they just went to sleep

The next morning it was very sunny and the weather was great and everyone was thinking of going with their beloved, Cloud had finally told Tifa that he loves her and Leon and Rhinoa married a week later while Reno was trying to get Rose's attention

Irvine was flirting with Sarah and Cid started to like Jessica and she liked him but she didn't admit it except for Yuffie she was heartbroken

After a month she couldn't handle it anymore and she left a note and went with Cid to look for Zane and the others

Cloud picked up the note and read aloud "I am not staying here anymore, I will search for Zane, Laguna and Ziad who had vanished and Cid is going with me. Goodbye my friends."

"I guess she is going huh?" Tifa said as she knew that it would take a long time before she would come back

"Everybody needs to do what they have to too get over people." Cloud said and sat down on the couch

"I wonder what happened to Sora and the others." Irvine said since they also hadn't heard anything from him anymore

"We won't know anymore." Merlin said while a young red-haired woman with glasses overheard them

She took her mobile and called someone "Did it work?" She asked

"For now the mission is successful but I can't guarantee his stability." Another man replied over the phone

"As long as it succeeded than it will work out on some way." She said while she hung up and walked away

A month ago in Olympus...

"Huh? This place looks ruined, where's the coliseum?" Sora wondered as the place was pretty dark and it looked like a cave

"I don't know, maybe that is why Cid called us." Riku said

"I have a bad feeling about this." The king said when suddenly Cerberus was behind them and he looked hungry

"Ulp, its Cerberus!" Goofy shouted

"Run!" Sora shouted as they all ran away in horror while Cerberus was pursuing them

Epilogue: Shattered Memory

Out in an open field laid Zane as his whole body was full of cuts and the blood dripped quickly on the floor

"It doesn't look like I can save him after all…" Zane said softly while he held his hand out to the sun expecting to be able to touch it when suddenly he saw the young boy's face again and he was smiling back at him "Brother… I am sorry." A tear ran down his cheek as he finally closed his eyes…


End file.
